The Marie Louise O'Donnell Podcast: Recent Episodes
Marie Louise O'Donnell
Independent Senator in the 25th Seanad Eireann. Passionate advocate for the Arts and the Elders of Ireland.
We are facing a crisis of available home care for our ageing population. Currently there are 6,000 people awaiting home care packages while the reality is we simply don't have the volume of carers needed to fulfill the need. I sat down with CEO of Home and Community Care Ireland Joseph Musgrave to learn more about the issues facing the sector and in the hope of identifying some positive solutions to affect change that will benefit both the carers and those they care for.
Death and dying is everyone's business - yet it is still a topic we try to avoid. I sit down with Advocacy Manager of the Irish Hospice Foundation Angela Edghill, to discuss how we as a society can do death, dying and bereavement better, from both a governmental to a personal level.
Life does not mean life when it comes to sentencing for murder. The average prison term for someone convicted of murder in Ireland is 17 years. I want to change this and intend to bring a bill before the Seanad to introduce judicial discretion - where a judge can impose a higher sentence when necessary. I sat down with criminologist and magistrate John O'Keeffe to get his take on the issue and look at how we might move towards better justice for victims and their families