Ireland is in the middle of a masculinity reset. Andrew Tate’s influence hasn’t faded. The Conor McGregor civil rape verdict rattled classrooms where he’d been idolised. BBC Three’s Men of the Manosphere aired this week. And “parasocial” has just been named Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year — a perfect description of the strange, intimate bonds teenage boys form with influencers they’ll never meet. 

In real life, the picture is just as messy. Samaritans research suggests one in ten men fake interest in sport and exaggerate their drinking, while two-thirds say they’d live differently if freed from social judgement. And yet we also saw Irish footballer Troy Parrott break down after the Hungary match, offering a rare counterweight to the idea that Irish men must bottle everything up. 

Educator Eoghan Cleary has spent years warning that boys are being raised — emotionally, sexually, socially — by the loudest, most misogynistic corners of the internet. Porn is shaping expectations long before adults intervene. Boys are anxious, angry, confused and algorithmically nudged toward men who promise clarity through dominance. 

On today’s podcast, Tara Duggan and Eoghan talk about why this generation feels lost, what parents can do tonight, what schools urgently need, and whether Ireland is finally ready to create a healthier, more humane model of masculinity for our sons. 

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