The Hard Shoulder Highlights

Large queues formed on Henry Street and Grafton Street yesterday as shoppers picked up some last-minute essentials before the lockdown came in. While others got what would be their last haircut for six weeks. It was the busiest the City Centre has been in months, as our reporter Barry Whyte spoke to business owners and shoppers yesterday evening...

The HSE has confirmed that close contact alerts on the COVID Tracker app were delayed on some Apple devices. It comes after an issue discovered by Newstalk was brought to the HSE's attention. An iPhone user went to 'Settings > Exposure Notifications' on his iPhone 8 and found a message, which read ‘Your exposure log has not been checked in 14 days'. Jess Kelly took Kieran though the issue and how to check if your phone was affected.

Every Wednesday here on the Hard Shoulder on Newstalk we bring you The Last Post - where we hear about the life of someone who has recently died but you have probably never heard of...  This week John Kelleher told Kieran about 108 year old Roberta McCain, mother of John McCain.

It was announced recently that more than 200 secondary schools run by the State Education and Training Boards are to phase out specifically Catholic symbols and practices. This sort of move has been long discussed, with many campaigning to get religion ‘out of our schools’, and I would even go further, that some would like to see religion out of society completely. Is that a realistic aim; specially in a country like Ireland, which owes much of its culture and history to the influence of religion? Joining Kieran on Wednesday's edition of The Hard Shoulder was Ronan McCrea, who is Professor of Constitutional and European Law at University College London, who believes that trying to take religion out of society is a very careful balancing act.

Donal Skehan joined Kieran to discuss his brand new 10 episode TV series which starts tonght on RTÉ One Donal’s Family Food in Minutes. The new show contains all the incentive you need to try new dishes that will no doubt become beloved family favorites, along with the perfect inspiration to create unique specials just in time for the festive season.