Season 18 launches with an extended 35-minute special episode, as Joe sits down with CEO of Tilting the Lens, disability advocate and accessibility consultant, Sinéad Burke.

Sinéad has highlighted the lack of inclusivity within the fashion and design industries, but refuses to be a fashion victim, consulting with industry leaders, designers, retailers and magazine editors to ensure that clothes made for, with and by disabled people are visibly embedded in their business models.

She talks candidly about love in its many forms, revealing the source of her own drive and ambition and the challenges she faces navigating the world as a little person, in a career that has taken her from a teaching role to the cover of Vogue and the Obamas’ White House.

This season, Joe also speaks with former RTÉ broadcaster and journalist, Bryan Dobson; the legendary World Champion and Olympic silver medal-winning athlete Sonia O’Sullivan; popular British actor Ricky Tomlinson; former Senator, scholar and civil rights activist David Norris; Travellers’ rights activist Catherine Joyce Collins; Irish tenor and gold medal winning para-athlete Ronan Tynan; actor and theatre director Olwen Fouéré; journalist, writer and drama critic Fintan O’Toole and actor, writer and farmer Mary McEvoy.

Commenting on the series, his fifth in the Inquisitor’s chair, Joe Duffy said: “Make no mistake, The Meaning of Life is a deeply researched, heavily thought-through recorded interview programme that befits the title and the subject. I am proud to present it with such strong professional backing from a great team.”

Roger Childs, Commissioning Editor of Religious Content at RTÉ said: “Ever since Gay Byrne sat down to interview our first guest the late, great Sinéad O’Connor, on a cold January day in 2009, The Meaning of Life has captivated audiences, revealing different sides and depths to public figures from all walks of life. Five years after Gay’s sad death, Joe Duffy has made the series his own and we’re delighted that it continues to attract such diverse and interesting guests to sit in ‘the chair opposite.’”