The Mick Clifford Podcast

Taoiseach on the brink: Louise Burne

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:00:00 GMT

Pressure is coming on Taoiseach Micheal Martin in the wake of the fuel protests and following the resignation as junior minister of Michael Healy Rae. We examine whether his leadership is now in peril, whether he can hang on for now and, beyond that, long enough to host the presidency of the EU in the second half of this year. Or is he destined to fulfil the maxim of all political lives ending in failure. Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Louise Burne is this week’s guest.

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ORBAN ON THE BRINK: Shona Murray

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:00:00 GMT

On Sunday Hungary goes to the polls in an election that should be of huge interests to all Europeans and beyond. The authoritarian leader of the last sixteen years is vehemently supported by both Vladamir Putin and Donald Trump, but is deeply unpopular among EU states. This week JD Vance landed in Budapest to campaign for him in an unprecedented move. On this week’s podcast Euronews Europe Correspondent Shona Murray describes Orban as a Trojan horse for Putin and analyses the impact of his authoritarian rule on both Hungary and the wider EU.

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THE INFORMER AND HIS HANDLER: JP O’Sullivan

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:00:00 GMT

In March 1985, IRA man John Corcoran’s body was found outside Cork city. He had been shot as an informer. In the intervening years there has long been speculation that Corcoran’s murder could have been avoided and that he was sacrificed to protect another informer for An Garda Siochana, Sean O’Callaghan. The special branch detective who was John Corcoran’s handler, JP O’Sullivan, has now written a memoir about the times and the murky manoeuvres leading up to and following Corcoran’s murder. JP O’Sullivan is this week’ guest on the podcast

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A FUGITIVE AND A PATRIOT: Rory Carroll

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:00:00 GMT

A new book by Guardian Ireland correspondent Rory Carroll examines the hunt by British intelligence to capture Roger Casement and his role in assisting to foment, and ultimately attempting to call off, the 1916 Rising. The book is a unique take on the life of not just Casement but other figures who were central to the Rising and the British intelligence chief who was engaged in fighting a war against Germany as well as suppressing rebellion in Ireland. Rory Carroll is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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GETTING OUT INTACT: Micheal Martin

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:44:16 GMT

In the week that was, the question that arose was – will he make it out of there intact? The subject of course was Taoiseach Micheal Martin and the quandary was his Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump at a time of living dangerously for politicians who interact with the US president. Joining us to run the rule over the occasion and what else is brewing in politics is Irish Examiner political reporter, Tadgh McNally.

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HOW IT WILL ALL END: Scott Lucas

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:00:00 GMT

The war in Iran is continuing and Israel is using the opportunity to pummel those it considers the enemy in Lebanon. Add to that the fact that the world economy is shivering, what is the way out of this morass?

On hand to give us some clues as to where we might go from here is an old friend of the podcast, UCD's Clinton Institute professor of international relations Scott Lucas.

Scott talks about how this might end and why so much comes back to sentiment in the USA towards a president who appears to live in his own world.

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The Mick Clifford Podcast - By-elections are looming

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 21:15:00 GMT

After the Presidential election last year saw Catherine Connolly elected President and Paschal Donohoe left Irish politics for a job at the World Bank, political parties will have two by-elections to contest in May.

What are the issues, who are the runners and riders and who can claim the seats?

Joining Acting Political Editor Paul Hosford to run the rule over Dublin Central and Galway West are Political Correspondent Louise Burne and Political Reporter Tadgh McNally.

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FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS: Peadar Tobin

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:00:00 GMT

We are frequently being told that there is a constituency out there that is not being served by the mainstream political parties. Peadar Tobin believes that his Aontu party would be an ideal home for such voters. He and Mick discussed how politics is and argued over who represents what in today’s fractured firmament. Peadar Tobin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ADOPTING TO LIFE: Paul Cullen

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Adoption was a big business in the Ireland of the middle decades of the last century, in a country where birth outside of marriage was considered a stain. That was the country into which Paul Cullen was born and ultimately adopted. He has written a page turning account of his life as an adoptee, Outsider – Survival, Family Secrets and the Search To Belong. Paul is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SHOUTING STOP IN IVERAGH: Joseph McCrohan

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Rural depopulation and its impact on large tracts of the country was writ large late last year when the GAA published a report on the dangers of clubs disappearing. One of the areas that has been repeatedly referenced in terms of depopulation is the peninsula of Iveragh in South Kerry. Now Iveragh is fighting back in a manner that will resonate across rural Ireland. Joseph McCrohan, Development Officer with the South Kerry Partnership and chair of the South Kerry GAA board is this week’s guest.

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LOUISE BURNE: Politics today

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:00:00 GMT

The failure to prepare for the floods has left communities devastated along parts of the east coast, but whose fault is it? Also, has there been any whisper in Leinster House about the fate of George Mitchel’s legacy in the wake of his presence in the Epstein papers.

And then there is the fate of the Taoiseach, Michael Martin. What dangers lurk for him, as they did for a predecessor Cork Taoiseach, in two upcoming byelections.

Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Louise Burne is this week’s guest on the podcast

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JUSTICE DELAYED IN LIMERICK: Mick Clifford

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 20:00:00 GMT

In this week’s podcast, Mick swaps chairs and is interviewed by Deirdre O’Shaughnessy – on loan from he own Irish Examiner podcast – about the not guilty verdicts against four serving and one retired garda in Limerick this week. All were charged with 39 counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and found not guilty on all counts. Major questions remain as to why they were prosecuted, why the trial went ahead, who is responsible, and what impact this has had on policing in the mid west.

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WATCHING THE WEIGHT LOSS: Aimee Donnellan

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:00:00 GMT

The drug Ozempic has become a phenomenon across the world since its impact on weight loss was discovered as a side effect to its main function, the treatment of type 2 diabetes. A new book looks at how the drug came to be developed, what effect it is having on society and where will it go from here. Off The Scales – The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity is written by journalist Aimee Donnellan and she is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ROUND THE HOUSES: Paul Hosford

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 20:00:00 GMT

The Dail reconvened this week after the Christmas break, but already the Irish Examiner’s Paul Hosford has been to China and back trailing the Taoiseach and getting a handle on where the new world order is heading. He has also run the rule over new immigration laws and whether the government is here to stay or on the road to nowhere. Paul is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED: Tommy Cahill

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 20:00:00 GMT

In November 2024, young Tommy Cahill found himself like many of his generation living the life abroad. He was in Dubai working as a teacher when he was faced with a dilemma. His father had just been elected a TD and would be leaving his council seat in Co Kerry.

What more could a young man want than to return home from the sun in the dregs of winter to take up an often thankless role in a rural part of the country from which most young people had fled. He talks about his first year, the shock, the awe, the rewards and the rain.

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TERRY PRONE: The Political Years

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Political communication was brought to a fine art by Terry Prone, her late husband Tom Savage and their mentor Bunny Carr. Their work was done and felt behind the scenes of successive governments and among numerous politicians. Now Terry is telling all in her memoir from the political years, which includes a whole raft of narratives about how some major figures in Irish politics coped at times of crisis and challenges.

Her book is entitled “I’m glad you asked me that”, a phrase she insists she has never, nor ever would, tell a client to issue. Terry Prone is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE €32m crystal meth Kerry connection: Liz Dunphy

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 09:00:55 GMT

Tralee-based businessman Nathan McDonnell was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a transglobal drug smuggling operation involving a notorious Mexican drug cartel.

How did it ever come to this and what exactly is the connection in Kerry that saw the drugs being stored in a premises outside Tralee, en route from South America to Australia?

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THE WAY HOUSING WAS: Eoin Ó Broin

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:00:00 GMT

A new coffee table book, written by Eoin Ó Broin and illustrated with the photographs of Mal McCann, looks at the public housing schemes designed by acclaimed architect Herbert Sims in the early decades of the state and the people who now live in them. Flats And Cottages – Herbert Sims and the Housing of Dublin’s Working Class 1932-48 works as both a history of architecture and a social history of a changing city. But who was Herbert Sims and what can we learn from him and the times he worked in that can be applied to today’s housing crisis? Eoin Ó Broin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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POLITICS THEN AND NOW: Paul Hosford and Louise Burne.

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:00:00 GMT

The start of the year, as in then, dawned full of hope and vim for a new government after the election in November 2024. Now, at the end of the year, we examine where the hope and plans ended up. The last twelve months hasn’t progressed like that and some might say that in general things have regressed a bit. But what has the political year really been like.

Joining the podcast to discuss the year that was are Paul Hosford and Louise Burne.

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THE DUNNES DYNASTY: Matt Cooper

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Dunnes Stores is one of the most famous brands in the country with one in every five shopping euros spent in one of their outlets. But what of the family behind the brand? Many people would have been familiar with the late Ben Dunne, a larger than life character, but what lay behind the character and what of the other big personalities in the family, from Ben Snr down.

Matt Cooper has written Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the heart of Dunnes Stores. Matt is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TALKING IMMIGRATION: Ciara Smyth

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 20:00:00 GMT

This week the government introduced new rules in relation to immigration, principally directed at asylum seekers. Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he is responding to a scenario in which this country has had a rapid increase in population. But is that the case, and is any such rise down to the number of people seeing asylum? Professor Ciara Symth, an expert in immigration law in UCG explores the facts, the myths and some of the lies that is now informing the public mood in this area.

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THE YOUNG AND THE DAMNED: Eoin O’Malley

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Comments by billionaire Denis O’Brien that some young people now feel entitled and that there is a decline in work ethic among the young have received much negative reaction. However, one voice that says O’Brien was talking sense is political scientist Eoin O’Malley, who is an associate professor in DCU. O’Malley, through his work has experience of the problems and foibles of young people emerging from education today. And he has strong opinions on whether remote working is actually working. Eoin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CATHERINE CONNOLLY BECOMES IRELAND'S 10TH PRESIDENT

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:00:00 GMT

This week, after 14 years in office, Michael D Higgins left Áras an Uachtaran for the last time and Catherine Connolly was sworn in as the 10th President of Ireland.

In her inauguration speech, she said that the president should be “a unifying presence—a steady hand, but also a catalyst for change”.

Irish Examiner deputy political editor Paul Hosford joins the podcast to give us the details as Ms Connolly aims to hit the ground running as she takes the reins.

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PROGRESSING IRELAND: Sean Keyes

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:14:24 GMT

Progress Ireland is a relatively unknown think tank from what might be described as the centre right of Irish politics. Among its backers are the billionaire brother Patrick and John Collison from Limerick. The think tank describes itself as “on a mission to connect Ireland to proven policy solutions around the world”. But what do they stand for specifically and is their message resonating in the political firmament. Progress Ireland’s director Sean Keyes is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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DJ’s LONG FALL: Eimear Ni Bhraonain.

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:59:49 GMT

DJ Carey has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for defrauding at least ten people out of various sums on money on the false premise that he was suffering from cancer. Carey was hurling’s first superstar whose exploits on the pitch thrilled the whole country. How did it all go wrong? What prompted him to head down the dark alley that led to imprisonment for the most grievous kind of deception? Eimear Ni Bhraonain’s new book The Dodger gives insight and detail in response to those questions. Eimear is today’s guest on the podcast.

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MORE THAN A GAME: Michael Moynihan

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The GAA has deep roots right across Irish society, culture and the economy. On one level it has never been as popular but often threats lurk at the time when the sun is shining. The Irish Examiner’s Michael Moynihan has spent much of his career tracking progress in the GAA and now he has produced a book that looks at the future, the hopes, the dreams and the threats that are being posed. Michael is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TRUMP’S PEACE OF THE ACTION: Scott Lucas

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Against the odds, Donald Trump has managed, at least temporarily, to stop the bombing and slaughter in Gaza. He has brokered a twenty point peace plan that could potentially ensure both peace and justice in an area that has been devastated. But will it work? And does Trump have the patience and political interest in ensuring that the long hard slog is as successful as the photo opportunities he availed of this week. Professor Scott Lucas from the Clinton Institute in UCD joins the podcast.

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A WEEK AND A HALF: BUDGET BLUES AND GAVIN GONE

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Irish Examiner Political Editor Paul Hosford joins Mick to talk over the shock departure of Jim Gavin from the presidential campaign and what now for the race for the Aras. On Tuesday the government introduced its first budget to the sound of groans from the general public and sirens sounding from economists. It was by any standards a week and a half.

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DEBATING A PRESIDENT: Gary Murphy.

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The presidential election campaign is underway but so far no fireworks are to be seen. But, Gary Murphy reckons, there are a number of subplots that may well liven up the race and there are questions to ask about the sour reaction of the supporters of candidates who failed to get nominated. Gary Murphy, Professor of Politics in DCU, is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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BATTLE FOR JUSTICE: Alan Kearney on his three year legal ordeal

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 19:00:00 GMT

In 2021, Alan Kearney was heading towards the pinnacle of his career. He was due to be promoted to commandant in the defence forces and was in line for a prestigious deployment to Leinster House. Then it all fell apart and he found himself the focus of a long running investigation and criminal charges. It took over three years before he was vindicated but by then the whole case had taken a huge toll on his career, health and family. This is his story.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE RIVALRY: Eoin O’Malley

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Charlie Haughey and Garrett Fitzgerald dominated politics in this country in the 1980s, and according to academic Eoin O’Malley, their rivalry shaped modern Ireland. O’Malley’s new book Charlie Vs Garrett examines the rivalry and the times the pair lived through when they were vying to run the country. It is a study of character, class and country. Eoin O’Malley is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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GET UP THE ARAS: Louise Burne

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The presidential race is up and running now, with Fianna Fail the latest party to select a candidate this week. Elsewhere, a whole host of independents are attempting to get nominated by appealed to county councils and Oireachtas members. Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Louise Burne takes a look at the runners and riders and who exactly might represent a value bet.

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THESE DIVIDED ISLES: Philip Stephens

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Ireland’s history has been tied up with that of Britain for eight hundred years through strife, colonialism, emigration and at times friendship. But where do we go from here? Philip Stephens is a long standing commentator with the Financial Times who had an Irish mother so he has a unique take on the ancient issue. His most recent book is These Divided Isles – Britain and Ireland Past And Future. Philip is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE LONG FELLOW: Colum Kenny

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Fifty years to the week after the death of Eamonn de Valera, we talk to his biographer Colum Kenny about the makings of the man who dominated the Irish state for the first half of its existence so far. Revered by some, hated by others, he has his rule has been subjected to much revision since his death.

Revolutionary, statesman, leader, yet also considered conniving and dishonest in his role in creating the Civil War that proved to be brutal. Who really was the man who oversaw De Valera’s Ireland. Colum Kenny is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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LEAVING CERT AND BEYOND: Jess Casey

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The Leaving cert results are out and those who sat the exam are digesting how they did at a time when grade inflation is being reined in. But what does it all mean in today’s world? Will disappointment today just be a staging post to a career that is not at all dependant on the results and how far away is reform. Jess Casey is this week’s guest on the podcast

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RACISM’S UGLY TURN: Arpita Chowdhury

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Following a spate of racist attacks on Indian people in this country the question arises as to whether something new and ugly is going on in Irish society. Arpita Chowdhury is a journalist born in India but living now in Ireland. She has observed changes, both in real life and online in how racism is showing itsef. Arpita is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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LOST GAELS: Peadar Thompson

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The GAA in the north went through a torrid time during the Troubles, with members targeted and even murdered simply because of their membership. There were also members of the association who were in the IRA and ended up dead primarily because they were themselves involved in violence.

Peadar Thompson has written a book commemorating all the GAA members who died violently. In particular he spoke to bereaved families who remember their loved ones for who they were rather than how they died. Peadar Thompson is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ONLINE SAFETY CODE: Wild West era of social media is over

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 19:00:00 GMT

For the first time, new regulations aimed at protecting Irish children online have been enacted – the ‘wild West’ era of social media is over. At least, that’s according to the Government, which this week announced the beginning of the Online Safety Code.

It’s taken the law over 20 years to catch up with social media – and in the meantime, a whole generation of children has been exposed to violence, pornography, self-harm content and misogyny, with only some minor attempts at protecting them from Big Tech.

But Ireland’s Online Safety Code is part of a wider effort including Europe’s Digital Services Act, the UK’s Digital Services Act and new Australian rules around social media which includes under 16s being banned from opening YouTube accounts. The measures have been widely welcomed in Ireland but have become the subject of huge debate in the UK.

So – what are the rules, what are the penalties, and crucially, do they have enough teeth?

Irish Examiner journalist Sean Murray joins Deirdre O’Shaughnessy on this week’s episode of the Mick Clifford podcast

You can read Sean Murray’s take on the Online Safety Code here: Will tech giants finally take online safety for children seriously?

Clare O’Donoghue Velikic’s piece about Meta is here: Meta's ban on political ads will mean less transparency and more slop for users

Alex Cooney from Cybersafe Kids wrote recently in the Irish Examiner about Big Tech and children: Social media aimed at kids is driven by profit, not safety

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THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW: low on detail, high on promises

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The National Development Plan review was launched earlier this week to an underwhelmed response.

An update of the previous plan, the review takes into account the Apple Tax escrow fund the Government was so keen not to claim, and promises a focus on providing the infrastructure key to housing delivery.

Along with the Summer Economic Statement, both announcements this week make a statement about the forthcoming fiscal period, but in the absence of clarity on Trump's tariff plans - what does it all mean?

Deirdre O'Shaughnessy speaks to Political Correspondent Louise Burne about the figures, the ambitions, and the lack of detail at the plan's core.

Mick Clifford is away

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THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: Cormac Moore

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:00:00 GMT

James Craig, the leader of unionist Ireland in the 1920s coined the phrase the root of all evil about the boundary commission, the body set up in 1922 to determine where exactly the border should lie between south and north on this island. But what was it all about? Could it have been any different? Did the border actually beget evil? Cormac Moore has written a fascinating account of the border commission entitled The Root Of All Evil. Cormac is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SHE WHO WOULD BE PRESIDENT: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 19:00:00 GMT

There has been some rustling in the political bushes of late concerning the forthcoming presidential election. Suddenly, a field might be beginning to take shape. Meetings, conventions, nomination processes, all are getting underway as the Summer break looms and the boys and girls in Leinster House break out their buckets and spades. But who is in and who will win? Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SEE THEM IN COURT: Sean Murray

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 09:31:28 GMT

This week there was some dramatic cases that came for hearing in the courts. Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey pleaded guilty to a series of charges of deception involving receiving money over false claims that he had cancer. In the Court of Appeal, Conor McGregor withdrew dramatic evidence which alleged the woman whom a High Court jury determined he had assaulted, Nikita Hand, had been assaulted by her former partner, Stephen Redmond, the night after she claimed she was raped by Mr McGregor in December 2018. And we also had the lodging of papers by Rory Gallagher in his action against the GAA and its president Jarlath Burns. Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray is this week’s guest.

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THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF SUMMER: Michael Moynihan

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 19:00:00 GMT

This is the time of year when the pulse quickens, the blood rises as county teams up and down the country do battle in the hurling and football championships. Meanwhile, RTE is currently broadcasting a five part series on the history of Gaelic football. Irish Examiner senior journalist Michael Moynihan knows all about championship summers and was a consultant on the documentary. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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HEALTH OF THE NATION: Niamh Griffin and Irene Feighan

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 19:00:00 GMT

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Irish Examiner’s Feelgood supplement a major survey of women’s health in Ireland was undertaken by the newspaper. Some of the results were surprising, some worrying and a couple were quite shocking. To run their eyes over the results we were joined this week by Feelgood Editor Irene Feighan and Irish Examiner Health Correspondent, Niamh Griffin.

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THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE: Fintan Drury.

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:00:00 GMT

As the destruction of Gaza by Israeli defence forces continues, bigger questions about how the world got to this point have gone unanswered. The plight of the Palestinian people has long been the issue that much of the west simply doesn’t want to know about. Businessman, author and migration activist Fintan Drury has written a book that melds history with polemic into a compelling narrative. Catastrophe – Nakba II is a timely examination of an issue that is turning into a major indictment of the west. Fintan Drury is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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MURDER SUICIDE REVIEW: Jacqueline Connolly

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:14:11 GMT

In 2016 Alan Hawe murdered his wife Clodagh and their three children. The subsequent garda investigation was found to be deficient in a number of respects. Clodagh’s sister Jacqueline and their mother Mary pushed for a proper investigation. That was conducted but never published. Jacqueline, who wrote her memoir Deadly Silence on the case, believes it should be published in order to prevent any similar tragedies occurring in the future. Jacqueline is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE UNFINISHED HEIST: Glenn Patterson

Thu, 29 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The robbery of the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004 was both a criminal act and, most observors believe, a political act as it as carried out by the Provisional IRA at a time when Sinn Fein was negotiating on the basis that violent and criminal acts by the Provos were at an end. Acclaimed writer Glenn Patterson was in the city centre on the night it happened. His latest book The Northern Bank Job – The Heist and How they got away it is both a cracking read and a historical document of note. Glenn is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE WAR ON DRUGS: Ann Murphy

Thu, 22 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

New mood-altering drugs are becoming available all the time but right now one in particular is eliciting huge concern among health professionals. Hexahydrocannabinol, or HHC as it is known, is widely available to buy over the counter in vape shops. Since it emerged as a serious drug a few years ago, doctors and addiction counsellors have been encountering major problems with its effects. Irish Examiner investigative reporter Ann Murphy has done some major work in the issue.

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REDEMPTION SONG: Eamonn Sweeney

Thu, 15 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Sportswriter Eamonn Sweeney set out to write a book about the GAA championship but succeeded in tackling a condition that had dogged him for nearly two decades, and largely confined him to his west Cork home. He talks about his struggles, his love of the GAA and why he felt compelled on various match days to check out the Orthodox religions and dine on exotic foods.

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FIGHTING DISASTER: John Whyte

Thu, 08 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

It’s a long way from the disadvantaged enclave of Rialto in Dublin’s inner city to the rubble and humanitarian devastation of Gaza but John Whyte has seen both. Before joining the UNRWA refugee agency, John oversaw the regeneration of Fatima Mansions that is considered a template of how to tackle disadvantage in this country. Today, as senior deputy director of UNRWA his brief is to alleviate the catastrophe that Gaza is now turning into. During a recent visit home, John spoke to the podcast.

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Fit for Purpose: Cliona Fole

Thu, 01 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

With health and fitness now a central part of modern life, a question arises as to whether gyms are suitably welcoming to women. Journalist and former PE teacher Cliona Foley has written in the Irish Examiner about her own experience and some disturbing research into the whole area that suggests society has a way to go yet. Cliona is this week’s guest on the podcast

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100 DAYS AND COUNTING: Scott Lucas

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Next Wednesday marks the 100th day in office for President Donald Trump, in this his second term. It differs greatly from his first, but more than that he has rushed to reshape the world, both within and without US borders. So how is he doing, will he succeed and is there any interest in stopping him bringing the US, and by extension the world, into a new reality. Scott Lucas, professor of US politics in UCD is this week’s guest.

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BUILD BACK BETTER: Jude Sherry and Frank O’Connor

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:00:00 GMT

In the midst of a housing crisis this state also has a large cohort of derelict or unused buildings. Some enlightened thinking and political willpower could use this resource to hugely positive effect but despite this there is still a way to go, particularly at official level. Judge Sherry and Frank O’Connor who run their design consulancy Anois have tracked this problem for four years and are now attempting to point a way forward towards solutions. Jude and Frank are this week’s guests on the podcast.

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JUSTICE FOR MY FATHER: Austin Stack

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 19:00:00 GMT

In 1983, Brian Stack, the chief officer in Portlaoise Prison, was shot and fatally wounded after leaving an event in Dublin. The Provisional IRA were long suspected of this attack but for many years, the organization denied any responsibility. Austin Stack was a young boy when his family’s life was changed forever and in adulthood he and his brothers began a long journey to get justice for their father. He has now written a book about that journey. Austin Stack is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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STUMPED BY TRUMP: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:00:00 GMT

Donald Trump has introduced the centrepiece of his electoral platform, global tariffs. On what he described as Liberation Day he produced a typical showbusiness background to the announcements that may well upend the whole nature of global trading. So what will it mean for this country, how we have been governed and how the country has developed over the last thirty years. Joining the podcast is Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin.

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The Forgotten War: Niamh Griffin

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Over 12 million people have been displaced from a civil war in Sudan that started in 2023 and continues. Around 1 million of those displaced are now refugees in neighbouring South Sudan, living in extremely difficult conditions, including without clean water and attempting to survive in one of the poorest corners of the world where climate change is now having a devastating impact. The Irish Examiner’s Niamh Griffin recently visited one of the refugee camps and reported on a forgotten war far from the international focus and cameras. Niamh is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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PRACTICING BUT NOT PREACHING: Ian Kilroy

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 12:57:21 GMT

Ian Kilroy is a journalist and lecturer in his day job but he is also a Zen Buddhist priest who has written a book that is already proving highly popular. Do Not Try To Become A Buddha examines zen teachings and practice but is main narrative is rooted in Ian’s own personal journey. He talks to the podcast about what brought him from a Galway childhood to Buddhism and from there onto a point where he is now teacher, but not, he is keen to emphasis, a guru. Ian Kilroy is this week’s guest.

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Taoiseach plays his Trump card: Elaine Loughlin

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:27:58 GMT

The country heaved a sigh of relief this week when Micheal Martin’s meeting with Donald Trump went off without a hitch. The potential for a disaster or two was nervously discussed before the meeting but the wily Corkman survived. That’s one view. Another is that he just kept the head down and dodged what some might have considered his duty to discuss with current incumbent in the White House. So how did it really go? Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin was in the Oval Office and even managed to fire a question at President Trump...

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CHILD’S STOLEN TIME: Jess Casey and Rebecca Meehan

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Providing an education for all children should be a basic duty of the state. Yet, for some reason, it doesn’t happen in this country. Every year there are children with special needs who can’t access either a place in a special school or a place in a special class in mainstream education. Why, in a country as allegedly developed as this, have we not been able to get this basic duty right. Rebecca Meehan, a mother of a child with additional needs, and Irish Examiner Education Correspondent Jess Casey join the podcast.

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IN THE SHADOW OF DICTATORS: Cormac O’Keeffe

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 20:00:00 GMT

The third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine fell this week, at a time when Donald Trump has moved to completely realign the USA in the war. So what does this mean for a country under siege and now apparently sandwiched between the autocratic Putin and apparent wannabe Putin, Trump. Irish Examiner security correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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WAR ON WOKE: Seamas O’Reilly

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Donald Trump has declared a war on woke which has been music to the ears of many, most particularly those of a far-right viewpoint. But what does it mean? And why is any such war required or to be welcomed and how does it feed into the basic strands of a far-right agenda. Writer and Irish Examiner columnist Seamas O’Reilly has been mulling over such issues in recent weeks. Seamas is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TO LOCK UP OR FREE UP: Saoirse Brady

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Prison overcrowding has become a serious problem, with prisoners sleeping on mattresses and dangerous conditions prevailing. So is it time to ramp up efforts to find an alternative to prison, particularly for those who are sentenced to a year or less. The Irish Penal Reform Trust has done extensive research into offending, sentences and conditions in prison and have produced submissions and proposals, some of which feature in the new programme for government. The IPRT’s executive director Saoirse Brady is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ENSURING THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Niall Muldoon

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Niall Muldoon is the ombudsman for children. His role gives him a perfect view into the problems that afflict the lives of children, right across society, down along the socio economic ladder, but particularly for those who are most vulnerable. He shared some very interesting insights into child poverty, issues around education and whether his office has enough powers to effect change.

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ELECTRIFY NOW: Hannah Daly

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 09:16:24 GMT

Electrify now: Hannah Daly

The loss of electric power in some parts of the country following last week’s storm has brought into focus the whole way in which we source our electricity and particularly whether it is sustainable. Hannah Daly, professor of sustainable energy in UCC talks about how there is a more sustainable route to getting our electricity and ensuring that the scenes we witnessed this week would not be repeated.

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MARTIN BACK ON TOP: Elaine Loughlin.

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 21:02:19 GMT

Micheal Martin was elected Taoiseach this week at the second time of asking. First he, the Dail and the wider public had to endure the spectacle of attempts to elect a Taoiseach ending in chaos. But was it self-inflicted or if not whose fault was it and does it auger for a new type of politics in the coming years. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin joins this week’s podcast.

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FOUR MORE YEARS: Scott Lucas.

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 20:00:00 GMT

As Donald Trump is inaugurated as the next president of the United States, we look at what the world can expect. Will Trump 2.0 differ greatly from first time around and if so will it be more dangerous? Will this country get caught in the spokes of his apparently free wheeling plans? Joining the podcast to map out the road ahead is Scott Lucas, Professor of US politics at UCD.

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ALWAYS TAKE THE WEATHER: Alan O’Reilly

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 09:11:08 GMT

Carlow Weather is a twitter handle that many might be aware of as a place to go for a usually on-the-ball weather forecast. Its operator Alan O’Reilly is now probably one of the best forecasters in the country albeit one who is not a meteorologist. So how does he do it? When did he start? And what kind of a Summer can we expect before rooting around in the attic for the oul buckets and spades. Alan O’Reilly is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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FOR WHOM DOES PRISON WORK? Ann Murphy

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:00:12 GMT

The issue of whether prison does what it was designed to do has been popping up regularly in recent years. Does it work? Does it provide rehabilitation? Are we imprisoning too many or for crimes that don’t merit such a penalty. Irish Examiner investigative reporter Ann Murphy has looked at one case of a man who has over 500 convictions and who has been in and out of the system for decades. She also examines the bigger questions in relation to penal policy in this country. Ann Murphy is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE YEAR THAT WAS: Sean Murray.

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:00:17 GMT

Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray joins Mick to chew over some of the big stories from 2024, from failed referendums to shock resignations, from foregone conclusions to an earthquake election. And then there was the story that showed our capacity in this country to act the ejit and never know when to stop.

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HOME THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD: Colin Sheridan.

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 20:00:00 GMT

Tis the season to huddle around family, friends and community, but what of those who are exiled far from home? Many Irish people spend Christmas overseas, some by choice, others through necessity, but one group do so in the interests of keeping peace. Ireland’s defence forces personnel are based in various hotspots, but particularly the Middle East. So what is Christmas like for them, and their families at home? Irish Examiner columnist Colin Sheridan has extensive experience serving overseas and he tells us what it’s like at this time of year.

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TRACING THE TRUTH: Ciaran Prior

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 20:00:00 GMT

From an early age Ciaran Prior was exposed to the spectre of premature death but once he joined An Garda Siochana it became part of his job. Mid career Ciaran became a member of the first regional crime scene investigation units and in that capacity he became a frequent sight at scenes of serious crimes including murder. His book Traces Of Truth is both a police procedural and a personal reflection of his life, and on life and death in general. Ciaran Prior is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TO GOVERN OR TALK, THAT IS THE QUESTION: Gary Murphy.

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 20:00:00 GMT

The election is over, the votes counted, seats filled. So what now? The people have spoken but what have they said? How long will it take to put a government together? Joining the podcast to look briefly over the election and into the future is Gary Murphy, the head of DCU’s Department of government and politics.

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COUNTING IT ALL UP: Elaine Loughlin

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 19:29:00 GMT

It’s the second day of the general election count, the period in which the whole picture clears up to present the reality of the next Dail. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin joins Mick to sketch out the national picture and who are the big winners and losers. She will also talk about the rise over the two days of the count of the candidacy of Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch and how it all fell apart in the end.

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The Count: Elaine Loughlin

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 15:45:05 GMT

Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin and Special Correspondent Mick Clifford give their analysis of the key stories emerging from the GE24 Election Count as the day continues to throw up some surprises across the country.

Keep up with all that’s happening in count centres across the country in our General Election hub

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ARE WE THERE YET? Paul Hosford

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:00:36 GMT

With just a few days to polling day we take a final look at the campaign with Irish Examiner political correspondent, Paul Hosford.

Who to look out for? Who is up and who is down? What shape will the next coalition take? Are we there yet? Tune in and kick back

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Election Watch podcast: What can politicians really do about climate change?

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:00:52 GMT

Hosted by Irish Examiner columnist Mick Clifford, the Election Watch podcast brings UCC experts and students together to examine topics that matter to students ahead of the 2024 General Election. This is the third part of the special podcast series coming directly from the UCC campus as we hear from a generation who could shape the result of this General Election. In this episode Mick talks to Irish Examiner's Eoin English, Hannah Daly, Professor of Sustainable Energy and student Mohammed Naeem who is the UN Youth Delegate for Ireland on the issue of climate change.

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THE BEND FOR HOME: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:00:00 GMT

With just a week left before polling day, we take a look at where everybody and everything stands in the general election campaign. Has any issue really emerged to shape the narrative? Who is having a good election? Who is not? And which entities are most likely to form the next government. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin joins the podcast to give the rundown on where exactly we are at.

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Election Watch: Is housing the number one issue this election?

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 02:00:20 GMT

As polling day gets closer, the Irish Examiner and University College Cork have teamed up to present the Election Watch podcast. Have young people lost faith in Ireland’s politics? Is housing the number one issue this election? Will climate conversations really come up on the doorstep?

Hosted by Irish Examiner columnist Mick Clifford, this podcast brings UCC experts and students together to examine these questions. This special podcast series comes direct from the UCC campus as we hear from a generation who could shape the result of this General Election.

This week Mick Clifford talks to Irish Examiner's deputy political editor Paul Hosford, Dr Brendan O'Sullivan, Chartered Planner and Head of the UCC Centre for Planning Education & Research. Hayley O'Connell Vaughan, Communications & Events Officer, UCC Student Union & Reuben Murray, Gov & Pol student in UCC

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SHOWTIME: Theresa Reidy

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 08:00:33 GMT

Showtime was what political guru PJ Mara once described as the start of a general election campaign but how is this one going? We have had skirmishes, Michael O’Leary, housing and cost of living. Where do we go from here and what impact could AI have on this election. UCC political scientist Theresa Reidy joins the podcast to discuss.

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Election Watch: Have young people lost faith in Ireland’s politics?

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 02:00:10 GMT

This week Mick talks to Dr Philip Murphy, Lecturer in Politics in UCC and 3rd Year BSc Government and Political Science students, Alice Bogue & Caitlin Holland and Mia Poland.

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SHOWTIME: Elaine Loughlin

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 08:00:37 GMT

The posters have been printed, the canvassing routes worked out. The Taoiseach has made the call, the Dail has risen. Here comes general election 20204 with a handful of questions. How is everybody fixed? Who is going to win, who is going to lose and who will surprise us all. Irish Examiner political editor Elaine Loughlin joins the podcast to take a look at how the runners and riders at looking at the starting gun.

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TRUMP’S TRUMP CARDS: Scott Lucas

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 20:00:09 GMT

Donald Trump won the US presidential election in what many are describing as the greatest comeback in US political history. But how did he, a convicted felon, a man deemed by a civil court as sex abuser, a politician who induced multitudes to falsely believe that the electoral system in the USA was rigged. And what will a Trump presidency bring to the country and the wider world. Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute in UCD joins the podcast.

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The Mick Clifford Podcast: US election on a knife edge - but who will win?

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 08:00:04 GMT

The Mick Clifford Podcast: US election on a knife edge - but who will win?

Having gauged the temperature on both sides heading into next week's US presidential election, Mick Clifford tells Sean Murray about his experience at rallies for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, rates both their chances and describes where this most pivotal of ballots could be won and lost.

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THE CRUCIBLE OF THE ELECTION: Penn State.

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:38:20 GMT

This week’s podcast comes from Pennsylvania, where Mick has gone to take the temperature and see what makes MAGA tick. We have contributions from some of those who attended a major Trump rally last Saturday in the crucial state and we also have an interview with Ray Wrabley, Professor and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, that gives a fascinating insight into what has changed in US politics in recent decades to an extent that a huge opening has been created for Donald Trump.

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THE FOREST MIDWIFE: Catherine Cleary

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 07:00:24 GMT

Catherine Cleary had spent her working life in journalism when in 2020 she gave it all up to grow trees. With a friend she set up a company called pocket forests, a social enterprise which caters for planting native trees and shrubs in small urban areas. She and her family also began looking for land in the west of Ireland where it might be possible to grow a forest. Her journey over the last four years has now been documented in a film, The Forest Midwife. Catherine is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SCOTT LUCAS: She ain’t heavy, she’s my sister

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:30:45 GMT

In this week’s podcast focusing on the US election we look at whether having other candidates or issues on the ballot paper can impact on the vote for those running for president. Senate and House of Representative seats are up for grabs in this election and the party that emerges with the majority in each house will be in the driving seat for the next term. Also the issue of abortion is on the ballot paper in some states. Will this help Kamala Harris of Donald Trump? Joining us to read the runes is Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute.

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PITY THE NATION: Colin Sheridan

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 07:00:35 GMT

Irish peacekeeping troops in south Lebanon are coming under pressure from Israeli defence forces as Israel moves into its neighbouring country, ostensibly to protect itself but actually killing indiscriminately as it goes. But what are the Irish soldiers doing there, what connection do they have to the local area and people and should they remain in situ. Irish Examiner journalist Colin Sheridan previously served in the country as part of the UN peacekeeping forces. He has been writing vividly about the area, the country and his experience and knowledge of its people. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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LONG ISLAND’S SOUND: Michael Moynihan

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 19:00:00 GMT

The phenomenon of Donald Trump is often associated with the rust belt states and among those who have been economically left behind in the USA. Not so, according to the experience of the Irish Examiner’s Michael Moynihan who recently went in search of MAGA (Make America Great Again) on the east coast of the USA and found them in the unlikeliest of places. Michael Moynihan is this week’s guest on the podcast’s US Presidential Election special editions.

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Keeping an eye on the spies: Cathal Berry

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 07:00:05 GMT

A recent report that the Russian agents have recruited a source in the Oireachtas has led to concerns about the state’s security apparatus and the interest of foreign actors. Are we a target for spies? Are we capable of repelling any such threats. This week’s guest Cathal Berry is an Independent TD and formerly a long standing member of the defence forces. He retains a major interest in the security services and he also reveals whether or not he is the Oireachtas spy in question.

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Bob Schmuhl: America, we hardly knew ya.

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 19:00:00 GMT

The first our US presidential election podcasts hears from Bob Schmuhl. Bob, a professor emeritus of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame is a keen student of the history of American presidents and he has never seen anything like this campaign. He believes that the election will be the most consequential in US history whomever wins.

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FUNNY MONEY: Elaine Loughlin

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 18:37:19 GMT

The budget was delivered this week and the general consensus was that it was a precursor to a general election, possibly to be announced in the weeks to come. So who are the winners on paper and who might be the real winner. Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Elaine Loughlin provides a global view of the big event and the fall-out.

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MANUFACTURING TRUTH: Paul Rouse

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:00:00 GMT

When he isn’t lecturing on history in UCD or presenting the Irish Examiner football podcast, Professor Paul Rouse mulls over how our world has become so susceptible to lies, spin and misinformation. He has now developed a module called Manufacturing Truth that looks at how there have always been attempts to sell lies in pursuit of political or financial gain and why that has gone into overdrive in the current digital age. Paul Rouse is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE ELECTION OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY: Donie O’Sullivan

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 19:00:00 GMT

As the campaign rhetoric ramps up and the polls continue to fluctuate, another would be assassin has been arrested in the USA. Senior CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan talks to us about the current temperature in the USA, while it is lazy to label all Trump supporters as bigots and why violence is an increasing feature of this election. And he also wonders aloud on what may happen after the polls close and the votes are counted. Donie O’Sullivan is this week’s guest.

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TIS THE SEASON FOR ELECTIONS: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 19:00:00 GMT

With the Dail returning next week and the budget on the horizon the expectation is that all politicians will have their eyes firmly focused on a November election. But will it come to pass? And what else can we expect from the coming political season in the wake of bicycle shed-gate (sorry), the Apple billions and Sinn Fein’s recently publishing housing plan. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin reviews the last week and reads the runes.

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The Fighting Irish And Hitler: Clodagh Finn

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:00:00 GMT

A new book details the fascinating stories of Irish people who joined resistance organisations in occupied Europe during the Second World War. Some are well known and have been recognised for their contribution to fighting Nazism under the most dangerous circumstances, others have not had their bravery recognised properly until now. The Untold Stories of the Ordinary Heroes Who Resisted Hitler is written by John Morgan and Irish Examiner columnist Clodagh Finn. And Clodagh is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TURNING A BLIND EYE TO VIOLENT DEATH

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 19:00:00 GMT

Six and a half years after Jimmy Loughlin was beaten to death in Sligo by a highly disturbed individual the HSE has yet to conduct an inquiry into a series of red flags about the danger to the public of the man in question. This is in sharp contrast to the recent publication of a report in Nottingham thirteen months after a violently disturbed man stabbed three people to death. Michael and Paula Loughlin have lots of questions for the health service, but nobody is willing to contemplate some answers. Michael and Paula are this week’s guests on the podcast.

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ALONE WE STAND? Declan Power

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 19:00:00 GMT

A topic that is attracting increasing attention is whether or not the state is equipped enough to defend itself from all manner of attack, on land and on sea. This comes at a time when another aspectof military force is being discussed, that of neutrality. To separate the wheat from the chaff on these matters we are joined today by defence analyst Declan Power.

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Donal Ryan: Heart, be at peace

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 09:07:12 GMT

Writer Donal Ryan talk to Mick Clifford about his latest book.

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Maurice Brosnan - Can Ireland build on Olympic glory?

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 19:00:00 GMT

It’s no exaggeration to say the last fortnight in Irish sport has been among the best and most successful we’ve ever seen. We’ve had four Olympic gold medals across four separate sports, and a few bronze to go along with it. And there may yet be more to come.

The events in Paris have captured the imagination back home on what has been the country’s best ever Olympic games. But what it all down to? And is something we can replicate in four years’ time in Los Angeles and beyond?

The Irish Examiner's senior sports writer Maurice Brosnan is in Paris, and sits down to chat about all things Team Ireland.

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Is Trump in trouble?

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 19:00:00 GMT

In the space of just a few weeks, the race for the White House has been turned on its head.

It’s now Kamala Harris who will take on Donald Trump in November’s US Presidential election, presenting a very different rival for the presidency than Joe Biden would have. She’s fundraising in huge numbers and gaining on Trump in many polls, while Trump is facing sharp criticism for his remarks about Harris at an event on Wednesday 31st July. With things still all to play for, we talk to Larry Donnelly, a Boston attorney, Law Lecturer at the University of Galway, columnist and commentator, to discuss the latest developments.

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Four Shots in the Night: Henry Hemming

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 19:00:37 GMT

Martin McGuinness assured Rose Hegarty repeatedly that her son Frank would be unharmed if he returned to Derry. Rose believed him and Frank came back. It was a fateful decision and that fate is explored in a new book about spies in the North during the Troubles. Four Shots in the Night examines the Hegarty case and puts it in the context of the intelligence war that played a vital role in bringing the violence to an end. Author Henry Hemming is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SCOTT LUCAS: Can Trump be trumped?

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:00:00 GMT

A tumultuous week in US politics saw an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and his subsequent victory march through the Republican party’s convention in which the party threw itself at his feet. Meanwhile, Joe Biden candidacy continues to raise doubts. Professor Scott Lucas of the Clinton Institute in UCD looks back at the week and forward towards a hugely significant election for the next president of the USA.

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ARTHUR MATTHEWS: Will the real Kevin O’Higgins stand up to time.

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 19:00:47 GMT

Arthur Matthews is a well-known comedy writer whose work includes Father Ted and the musical I Keano. Now he has taken a very different turn and written about a polarizing figure in Irish history, Kevin O’Higgins, the man many associate with the policy of executions during the Civil War. Arthur talks to the podcast about his book, Walled In By Hate, Kevin O’Higgins, His Friends and Enemies

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NEXT DOOR ELECTIONS: Seamas O’Reilly

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 12:48:39 GMT

The UK elections has delivered a hammer blow to the Tories after fourteen years in power. Kier Starmer is the new British Prime Minister but what needs to change and what will change. Also, what will the result mean for Northern Ireland after the DUP suffer further losses and Sinn Fein marches on? Author and columnist Seamas O’Reilly is this week’s guest to take over the embers of the elections.

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Bertie Ahern, Roy Keane, the Saipan controversy and the great Tommie Gorman

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 08:22:44 GMT

Bertie Ahern, Roy Keane, the Saipan controversy and the great Tommie Gorman.

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RUNNING TO STAND STILL: Cathal Dennehy

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 19:00:38 GMT

The recent successes of Irish athletes in the European championships have nicely teed up the forthcoming Olympics for most sports fans. Rashida Adeleke and Ciara Mageean among others have done the country proud. But is the success that they and others are enjoying a result of a the kind of well funded, structured system that exists in comparable countries, or is it in spite of the approach of the government that these athletes are showing their world class ability. Former athlete and sports journalist Cathal Dennehy has assembled strong evidence that it is the latter. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ELECTIONS UPSET THE APPLE CART: Elaine Loughlin

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 08:12:34 GMT

Some had billed the Euro and local election the most important in a generation. Others said they all say that. One way of the other there were shocks, surprises and a few very interesting takeaways. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin gives the run down on all that went on all it tells us about what to expect in the coming months.

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HUNTED: Dan Lawton

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 20:32:14 GMT

One of the most fascinating personal stories to emerge from the decades of violence in the North is that of Kevin Barry Artt. He was wrongly convicted of murder, on the word of a supergrass. He was part of a huge breakout from the Maze prison even though he wasn’t a member of the IRA. And he eventually became the focus of a concerted effort by the British government to extradite him from the USA to where he had fled. His story is now told by his onetime lawyer, Dan Lawton, who also moonlights as a writer. Dan is this week’s guest to talk about Hunted, The Kevin Barry Artt Story.

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TO BRUSSELS WITH LOVE: Theresa Reidy

Thu, 30 May 2024 19:00:00 GMT

With European elections coming over the horizon next week we got political scientist Dr Theresa Reidy to tell us just what exactly we will be voting for. She outlines the job of an MEP, who is the best kind of person to send and what we should know about and expect from what is our parliament. Theresa also runs the rule over the novel mayoral election in Limerick which could herald the beginning of a new way of doing governance in this state.

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EXAMINING THE EDITOR: Tom Fitzpatrick.

Thu, 23 May 2024 19:00:00 GMT

This week’s guest on the podcast is Irish Examiner editor, Tom Fitzpatrick. Tom talks about the challenges in today’s media world, from attempting to provide a fact based and balanced newspaper, both in print and online, to protecting journalists who are often targeted by those intent of creating divisions and hatred. He gives an insight into the job of a modern day editor who has all the traditional duties of editing, driving and creating a newspaper while combining that with carving out an online niche that will ensure sustainability into the future. And he tells why despite the challenges and long hours, he still gets a buzz from being at the centre of telling the news.

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COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE: Frank Buttimer

Fri, 17 May 2024 09:08:38 GMT

This week’s guest on the podcast is one of Ireland’s leading criminal law solicitors, Frank Buttimer. With over forty years in practice Frank Buttimer has represented clients in some of the most high profile trials over the decades. He also has some interesting insights in the type of crime that is coming before the courts these days, particularly in the area of sexually motivated crime.

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AN OUTRAGE AND AN INJUSTICE

Thu, 09 May 2024 19:00:00 GMT

The fiftieth anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings falls on 17 May. Thirty four people died in the four bombings in what was the worst tragedy in the state since the Civil War. Families were marked for life by the killings but beyond the human tragedy there was also a state scandal associated with the day. Over the years it has emerged that both the Irish and British governments of the day showed no interest in investigating the crime and bringing perpetrators to justice. Retired senior garda John O’Brien has written a book about the case, focusing on the political and policing elements in the aftermath and why there appeared to be a lack of willingness to find out who had bombed Dublin and Monaghan. John O’Brien is this week guest.

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TEENAGE RABBIT HOLES: Debbie Ging.

Thu, 02 May 2024 19:00:00 GMT

A new study into how teenage boys are drawn down rabbit holes online to content that is misogynistic and possibly have a traumatic impact on their development was published recently by DCU. The research shows that social media companies are now drawing teenagers towards influencers who are spreading all manner of negative material simply to make money. What can be done about it by regulators, parents and society in general? And what will the impact be for tomorrow’s adult males. Professor Debbie Ging from DCU’s anti bullying centre is this week’s guest.

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HERO’S BROKEN WINGS: Roger Casement

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 19:00:00 GMT

One of the most tragic figures from the revolutionary period was Roger Casement, global humanitarian, Irish rebel, hung as a traitor. A new biography Broken Archangel – The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement provides a fascinating account of this complex figure and the times he lived in. It also answers definitively the questions around whether his diaries, used to blacken his name ahead of his execution, were forged. The book’s author, Ronald Phillips is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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STARDUST JUSTICE: Sean Murray

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 19:23:20 GMT

After forty three years the families of the forty eight young people who died in the Stardust fire in Dublin in February 1981 have finally received a form of justice. The longest running inquest in the history of the state returned a verdict of unlawful killing in all forty eight deaths. How did it get here, what did the inquest here and where can it go from here. The Irish Examiner’s Sean Murray has been following this story most of his career and he is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ON A CROOK’S TRAIL: Michael O’Farrell

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:10:36 GMT

Michael Lynn is currently serving a prison sentence for crimes of fraud committed at the height of the Celtic Tiger years in this country. A solicitor by training, he conned banks out of tens of millions of euro, went on the run and ended up in Brazil where his wife gave birth to their first child. He thought that would save him from extradition but it didn’t. All the time his trail was being followed by investigative reporter Michael O’Farrell, who has now written a book, Fugitive, the Michael Lynn story. The book reads like a thriller and Michael is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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TAKEAWAYS FROM THE FOOD SYSTEM: Joe McNamee

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 19:00:20 GMT

We have long since developed in a nation of foodies in this country in terms of the range of foodies that people enjoy and how it is consumed. But what of our food system? How far now is the journey from farm to fork? Why do we no longer, for the greater part, know the precise distance and route taken by the food we buy? And why is this country that projects itself as a top class food producer, importing so much. Irish Examiner Food Writer Joe McNamee answers these questions and much more in a fascinating tour of our current food system.

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THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF MORRIS O’SHEA SALAZAR: Liz Dunphy

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 20:00:00 GMT

The bustling town of Killorglin in Co Kerry is one of the most unlikeliest places imaginable to have a connection with one of the biggest drug cartels on the planet but that is the case. One of the senior figures in the Sinaloa cartel is allegedly Morris O’Shea Salazar who spent a decade of his formative years growing up and into adulthood in Killorglin. Authorities in Chile are attempting to locate him to press serious charges on the basis that he was the cartel’s main man in Europe. His mother, who brought him to Killorglin, and his uncle are already serving prison sentences. Irish Examiner reporter Liz Dunphy went to the mid Kerry town to talk to locals and find out who exactly was and is Morris O’Shea Salazar.

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HEIRESS, BOMBER: Rose Dugdale

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 10:51:49 GMT

The death was announced earlier this week of Rose Dugdale, the English aristocrat who became a member of the IRA, served time in prison and was subsequently involved in perfecting bomb technology for the Provos. She also featured in attempts to rid inner city Dublin of drug dealers in the 1980s. Sean O’Driscoll has written a biography of Ms Dugdale, entitled Heiress Rebel Vigliante Bomber. Sean is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SO LONG LEO: Elaine Loughlin

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 18:07:22 GMT

Leo Varadkar’s announcement that he was stepping down as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael took the whole country by shock. Why now and who is in line to succeed him? Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin looks back on Varadkar’s career and looks forward to who might replace him and what it will mean for the government, the country and the next general election.

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LUCK OF THE IRISH PREMIER: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:00:00 GMT

One of the perks of the job of being Taoiseach is apparently the invite to the White House for St Patrick’s Day, a privilege that is afforded few foreign leaders. Leo Varadkar is over this year but he has a lot on his mind. He has to step lightly around hosts whose stance on Israel and Gaza is at odds with that of most of the world, including Ireland. And he also is burdened with reflection on a disastrous referendum outcome for his government. Joining him in DC, among the travelling media, is Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin, this week’s guest on the podcast.

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EYEWITNESS: Eamonn Mallie

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 20:00:00 GMT

Through the years of the violence in Northern Ireland one distinctive voice was frequently heard across all airwaves. Eamonn Mallie didn’t speak with a typical South Armagh accent but it was from there he was sprung and he went on to be one of the leading reporters of the conflict in the North. Now he has written a book about his experiences, the stories he broke, his encounters with the men of violence and a highly unlikely friendship with the firebrand unionist, Ian Paisley. Eamonn Mallie is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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RECONCILING WITH THE PAST

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:00:00 GMT

This week Mick sat down with a group formed a few years ago from descendants of those who were involved in signing the Anglo-Irish Treaty. And it wasn’t just those who were on the pro-treaty side that were part of this group, but also a grandson of Cathal Brugha and a grand nephew of Harry Boland. The group is pushing hard for a national day of reconciliation to be formed and they made a compelling case.

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DENIS MINIHANE: SNAPPING AT HISTORY’S HEELS

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:00:46 GMT

Press photography may be a dying art but one of its great practitioners over the last forty years was Denis Minihane. Recently retired after forty seven years working for the Irish Examiner, he talks about his career, the art and the craft and the historic events at which he had a front row seat. Denis is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SECOND CHANCE: Damien Quinn and Saoirse Brady

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 20:07:21 GMT

People who have served a prison sentence for a criminal offence are entitled to believe that once the sentence is completed they have paid their debt to society. That does not appear to be the case. New research shows that there are huge barriers to ex-prisoners finding employment and that the past simply won’t leave them alone. Damien Quinn was one such person, who had to fight hard to rebuild his life once he finished his sentence. He and Irish Penal Reform Trust Executive Director Saoirse Brady are this week’s guests on the podcast.

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DRAWING FROM THE WELL: Mike O’Donnell

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 20:00:00 GMT

Mike O’Donnell is one of the only if not the only court artists currently plying his trade in this country. He covers high profile trials and draws defendants, lawyers, judges, the public, all to give an insight and flavour of the environment of a court where serious, and usually tragic, drama takes place. He currently has an exhibition in which one of the main subjects is Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch whose trial Mike covered. Afterwards, Hutch invited the artist to his home in Dublin where he “sat” for Mike. This week’s guest on the podcast gives a fascinating insight into his trade and those he has encountered along the way.

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LOSING THEIR RELIGION: Roy Donovan

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:00:04 GMT

Last week the Bishop of Kerry announced that the church in the diocese was facing further challenges this year with more retirements of priests scheduled. So where stands the Catholic church in this country now in terms of serving its community? Will, for example, congregations be expected to travel further to attend mass and confession? Will there be a greater role for laity in the church? And is there willingness within the current hierarchy for creative solutions? Roy Donovan, a priest and member of the Association of Catholics Priests is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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NICK FOSTER: Should Ian Bailey have been put on trial?

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 20:00:24 GMT

Ian Bailey’s death this week has reawakened debate on whether or not he should have been put on trial for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. He was the chief suspect and was arrested twice but never charged. In 2019 he was convicted of murder in abstentia in Paris. But should he have been charged with murder in this jurisdiction. Nick Foster has written a book about the case, Murder At Roaring Bay. He and Mick disagree as to whether the evidence was sufficient to put him on trial. They debate the issue on this week’s podcast.

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COLD TIME FOR FOOD BUSINESS: Ross Lewis

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 20:00:07 GMT

Since Christmas there has been a number of restaurant closures throughout the country, including the high profile Nash 19 in Cork city. These were predicted due to a variety of cost related issues, most particularly labour and fall-out from the pandemic in areas like the warehousing of debt. So what will this mean for the future and is there anything that can be done to ensure that small businesses in general can survive in the current climate. Restauranteur Ross Lewis is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE HEALY RAES – A FAMILY OR A POLITICAL PARTY? : Ciara Phelan

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 20:00:00 GMT

Brothers Michael and Danny Healy Rae are among the most high profile of the Dail’s independent TDs and both come with a serious political pedigree, courtesy of their late father Jackie. Recently, Irish Examiner political correspondent Ciara Phelan spent a few days in their company in and around the family bailiwick of Kilgarvan in Co Kerry. In this week’s podcast Ciara tells us about what she saw and heard, both from within the family and without and what impact their success is having on politics, both local and national.

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WHAT RUNS FREE IN OUR RIVERS: John Murphy

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 20:00:30 GMT

Ireland’s wild salmon stocks are disappearing. Over the last thirty years the stocks have plummeted due to a range of factors from fish farming to water quality to the ravages of climate change. There has already been a major impact on tourism, but beyond that lies the prospect of the complete disappearance of wild salmon. What can be done to arrest this slide before it is too late. John Murphy, chair of Salmon Watch Ireland, is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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WAS STAKEKNIFE WORTH THE TROUBLES: Richard O’Rawe.

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 10:00:52 GMT

When is it alright for a democratic state to let one of its citizens go to their death and not prevent it? A new book by former IRA man and H block prisoner Richard O’Rawe covers the activities of the highest level informer that the British security services had in the Provisional IRA, Freddie Scappaticci.

Scap was the man who tortured and shot spies on behalf of the Provos while operating as one himself. And evidence has emerged that he informed his handlers of most of the killings before they occurred. Richard O’Rawe is this week’s guest on the podcast. [Recorded - October 2022]

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A JUDGE’S ACCOUNT: Bernard Barton [Long Version]

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:00:26 GMT

Bernard Barton retired as a High Court Judge in 2021 but has maintained a keen interest in his former career. He is active in writing and researching in both the law and history and he has a special interest in proposals around changes to defamation laws, specifically a proposal to abolish juries. He passionately believes in the role of juries in our courts. As this week’s guest on the podcast he discuss this as well as changes he observed over the years in relations between judges and politicians and why retirees like himself could be of further use to the administration of the law today. [Long Version].

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The Year That Was: Politics

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 09:38:06 GMT

As the end of year approaches time for a lookback on what has gone on over the last twelve months and maybe a little peek into the future. It’s been an interesting year in politics and with a number of elections due in 2024 the year ahead promises to be even more interesting. Irish Examiner Political editor Elaine Loughlin and deputy political editor Paul Hosford give their reflections and predictions.

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IRELAND OF THE UNWELCOMES? Ciara Phelan.

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 20:00:22 GMT

This week the government announced new, tighter rules to apply to Ukrainians fleeing the war in their country and arriving on these shores. Does this signal a change in approach to war refugees here and what does it say about the kind of pressures that communities around the country are experiencing with the influx of over 100,000 people in the last eighteen months.

Political Correspondent Ciara Phelan, who broke the story for the Irish Examiner, is this week’s guest on the podcast

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A JUDGE’S ACCOUNT: Bernard Barton

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 20:00:00 GMT

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FACING UP TO POLICING

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 20:00:22 GMT

Facial recognition technology is now firmly on the political agenda after the riots in Dublin. The technology, which is in use in many countries, assists police to finding and identifying suspects. Ther are, however, fear about how it is used and whether it can be misused. This week’s guest, Olga Cronin, Senior Policy Officer at the ICCL, gives the lowdown on the pros and cons of a technology that is, one way or the other, going to be in the news for some time.

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GAZA AT HOME AND ABROAD: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 20:00:00 GMT

With the conflict in Gaza entering a new phase Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin takes stock of where everything is at right now. Elaine was in the Middle East last week and she relays what she experienced and she was in Leinster House this week where the was also a lot of noise, if not a great amount of heat.

Elaine Loughlin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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READ MY LIPS: VICKY PHELAN WOULD HAVE WANTED THIS

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 20:00:00 GMT

On the first anniversary of Vicky Phelan’s death, the Irish Examiner launched its Read My Lips public health awareness campaign to encourage women to get tested for cervical cancer. Before she died, Vicky had been involved in pulling together the ideas for this campaign and on this week’s podcast Irish Examiner Feelgood Editor Irene Feighan talks about how the campaign came about and her memories of Vicky as well as Vicky’s solid legacy.

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THE KIDNAPPING: Don Tidey

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 20:00:00 GMT

Tommy Conlon and Ronan McGreevy are guests on this week’s podcast to discuss their book, The Kidnapping. In November 1983, the IRA kidnapped supermarket executive Don Tidey. Three weeks later, an army private and trainee gardai were murdered by the kidnappers in a remote area in Co Leitrim. The reaction was one of profound shock and over the longer term there was major consequences. The authors have written a riveting account of one of the seminal events of the Troubles south of the border, including the impact of the IRA’s campaign in counties like their native Leitrim.

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HOME THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD: John Wain

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 20:00:00 GMT

Cork native John Wain is a Senior Emergency Shelter Co-Ordinator with the United Nations, currently based in Ukraine. He has a unique view of the conflict as it develops in that country and his job and experience also render him as somebody who knows a thing or two about building emergency accommodation for those fleeing war, something that is apparently not getting done in this country.

John Wain is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE PIECE ON DRUGS: Cian O Concubhair

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Last week the Citizen’s Assembly finished its work examining how illegal drugs are dealt with in this country and whether a more enlightened approach is required. One very interested observer of the work was Maynooth University law lecturer, Dr Cian O Concubhair, whose specialist area is in policing. Cian also had personal interest in the assembly and its deliberations dating from an event in his own life that ultimately led him down a path to studying law.

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WILL SOMEBODY SHOUT STOP? Aftermath of Hamas attack on Israel

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:12:24 GMT

Last weekend’s massacre of up to 1,000 civilians by Hamas in southern Israel has prompted an equally horrific reaction with the relentless bombing of Gaza from the air. As civilians on both sides are bearing the brunt of this intractable conflict, many are asking how did things get this bad and is there any chance of peace. Joining the podcast to discuss these matters is Francesco Cavatorta, professor of politics at Universite Laval in Quebec, and formerly of DCU in Dublin. He is co-author with Vincent Durac of Politics and Governance in the Middle East.

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CHILDREN IN NEED: Maria O’Dwyer.

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is making the eradication of child poverty a priority for this government. Exactly how urgent the issue is will become clear in the forthcoming budget. But what exactly is child poverty? What is the lived experience of children who are living in poverty? And what exactly needs to be done if it is to be addressed in a meaningful way. Maria O’Dwyer is a researcher and national co-ordinator of the Prevention and Early Intervention Network. She is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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LAST TIME BUYER: Pat O’Mahony

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:00:00 GMT

The concept of retirement villages is largely alien in this country but Pat O’Mahony is determined to change that. After a lifetime working in education he has written a book on how best to cater for the housing of an aging population using a model with which he became familiar with while working in Australia. The idea is simple and works very well in many other countries so what is stopping it being utilized here. Pat O’Mahony is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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FAB PHARMACIST: Laura Dowling

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 19:00:02 GMT

In a world where social media dictates so much, often through those who know so little, Laura Dowling is a turn for the books. In 2022 she left her job as a pharmacist, at which she had worked for twenty years, to set up a business initially to operate entirely online. Her experience and knowledge inform entertaining Instagram posts which are increasingly popular and through detailed research she has produced a range of plant based products, which are her passion. Laura Dowling, the fabulous pharmacist is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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BACK AT THE COALFACE: Elaine Loughlin

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:00:00 GMT

The Summer’s over, the leaves are turning and politicians are trooping back to Leinster House. The forthcoming Dail terms promises to be very interesting, starting off with the run in to the budge in October. Elaine Loughlin, Political Editor of the Irish Examiner, sets the scene for the twelve months ahead, one that currently looks as if it will the last full year before a general election.

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DAN TROY: From here to Wuhan

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 19:00:04 GMT

Dan Troy began his working life as a civil engineer but soon found that he had a calling to the Catholic church, and specifically what used to be known as the Missions. After completing his studies in the Columban order, he was dispatched to Wuhan in China, where he has now lived for over twenty years. He talks about what it is like to be a missionary priest in a nominally communist country, how Wuhan managed the covid pandemic which originated in the city and why China now feels like home.

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BRAVE NEW ELECTORAL WORLD: Gary Murphy

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:00:57 GMT

The electoral commission has recommended more TDs and more constituencies for the next general election. But what does it all mean, who are the winners and where can you find the losers? Will it impact on the formation of the next government? Why do we need more TDs at all and why do we like our constituencies within county bounds. Running the rule over this new electoral landscape is Gary Murphy, Professor of Politics at DCU.

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HISTORY NOW AND THEN: Danny Morrison

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Last week Mick wrote a column with the headline “McSwiney’s legacy is being stolen by Sinn Fein”. The McSwiney referenced was Terence, the Lord Mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike in 1920. One reader who took issue with the piece was Danny Morrison, former director of publicity for Sinn Fein and one of the central figures in the provisional movement in Northern Ireland throughout the Troubles. Danny suggested a podcast on the matter and who could turn down such an offer.

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TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD BACK BETTER: Neil Michael

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 10:05:17 GMT

Throughout the state’s cities, towns and villages, dereliction has become a blight. Everywhere there are vacant and disused properties at a time when there is a huge housing crisis. So what is being done about it and where are the prospects of a brighter future. Irish Examiner reporter Neil Michael has completed a comprehensive series in the paper about dereliction right across Munster (the series is available on irishexaminer.com) and he talks to Mick on this week’s podcast about what he has found and where it is all going.

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HOW WE SPORTED AND PLAYED: Paul Rouse

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 19:00:30 GMT

He is a professor of history in UCD in his day job, but Paul Rouse also writes a weekly column for the Irish Examiner and presents the popular Irish Examiner Football Show podcast. His all round experience has led him to corral a collection of essays, reflections and pieces on what history says about sport and sport about history, entitled Sport in Modern Irish Life. Paul is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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Pride and regret for Ireland's Women as cloud hangs over World Cup homecoming - John Fallon

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Ireland’s women returned home this week after exiting their very first World Cup finals after just three games.

Getting to the tournament was a momentous achievement for Irish sport in and of itself, but storm clouds over the team gathered prior to the tournament and persist post-competition after an apparent rift between captain Katie McCabe and manager Vera Pauw.

Joining us to discuss Ireland’s performance at the World Cup and the wider legacy for women’s sport in Ireland is John Fallon, Irish Examiner soccer correspondent, fresh off the plane from covering the tournament in Australia.

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Prof Colin O'Gara: Ireland's gamble on new betting laws

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Over a decade in the making, Ireland is finally set to pass laws updating gambling legislation and bringing it into the 21st century. It'll introduce the country's first gambling regulator, bring in strict curbs on advertising and introduce a social fund for problem gambling initiatives. But how important is it these laws are passed, and do they go far enough? And why does Ireland have a "mountain to climb"? Consultant psychiatrist Professor Colin O'Gara joins the podcast this week to discuss.

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IS CASH STILL KING: Olive McCarthy

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 19:00:06 GMT

Covid has seen a huge migration from cash to digital payments, but has this heralded an unstoppable move towards a cashless society? Recently there has been controversies about the GAA refusing to take cash at the entry to some games and an attempt by one of the retail banks to have cashless branches. Dr Olive McCarthy, director of UCC’s Centre for Co-operative Studies examines in detail the evidence on whether cash remains king.

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PUBLIC RYAN: Terry Prone

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 19:23:07 GMT

Where now for Ryan Tubridy and RTE? Will the presenter be back on the airwaves, how is the power balance now between him and the broadcaster? Communications expert Terry Prone reads the runes and offers some deep insights and observations of where the whole debacle now stands.

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FORTY YEARS A GROWIN’: Mark Woods

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Mark Woods recently retired from a forty year career in journalism, principally in the area of sports. Changes, he’s seen a few and here he shares his remarkable, interesting and humorous journey though all the changes that have happened since he first entered a newspaper fresh and green, straight out of school.

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AS SMART AS WE THINK WE ARE? Gregory Provan

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Artificial intelligence is having an increasing impact on how we live, particularly through the likes of chatbots such as ChatGPT. Some who are aware of the potential of AI are already warning of a future in which software could have more intelligence than humans. So what do we need to know, what needs to be done, and how can we take it handy. Professor Gregory Provan from UCC is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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GUBU: Harry McGee

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 19:00:00 GMT

One of the most notorious murder cases in the state, which also almost brought down a government, was that involving Malcolm Macarthur, who was found hiding out in the Attorney General’s home in 1982. Macarthur, from an quasi aristocratic background, had vicious killed Bridie Gargan and Derek Dunne in fits of violence that somehow seemed at odds with her personality. Journalist Harry McGee’s new book, The Murderer and the Taoiseach, examines the case in detail and relates his own engagement with Macarthur who served thirty years in prison.

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ELAINE LOUGHLIN: A snapshot of Leinster House in the sunshine

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 19:00:36 GMT

A new opinion poll, a series of coincidental articles, the mid term blues and a question hanging over Michael Martin, will he stay or will he go? Irish Examiner political editor Elaine Loughlin unravels all on this week’s podcast.

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TONY CONNELLY: Granddaddy was an RIC man.

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Tony Connelly is known across the country as RTE’s Europe Editor but now he is exploring his family history for a TV documentary. His grandfather, Michael Connelly from East Galway served in the RIC right up until it was disbanded in 1922. The trajectory of his life and career makes for a fascinating story and has also provided Tony with some food for thought about the RIC, their role in Irish society and how they are remembered today. Tony Connelly is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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IRELAND, WE HARDLY KNEW YOU: Cormac Halpin.

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Summary results for last year’s census were published this week and they provide a snapshot of where exactly Ireland is now. Senior statistician at the Central Statistics Office, Cormac Halpin spoke on the podcast about what the change are and what they mean.

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JOHN DORNEY: AN END AND A BEGINNING

Thu, 25 May 2023 19:00:00 GMT

On 24 May 1923 the Irish Civil War ended with the order to dump arms. This is one of the final major occasions to be examined in the centenary of the revolutionary decade, a time when the newly independent state finally had a chance to breathe. So how did it come about, and what was left at the end of a conflict that exercise a huge toll on a public that was already exhausted and damaged. Historian John Dorney is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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KILLING THATCHER: Rory Carroll

Thu, 18 May 2023 19:00:00 GMT

In October 1984 the IRA attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher with a bomb in the Grand Hotel in Brighton where she was staying for a Conservative party conference. The plot failed but five other people died. It was the most audacious attempt at assassination that the Provos had undertaken over the course of the Troubles. The story of the Brighton bomb, who plotted it, who carried out the plan, and how the main culprit was eventually captured, form the core of Rory Carroll’s new book, but it is much more than that, providing a wide lens view of the Troubles throughout the 1980s, written in the style of a thriller. And it also poses an interesting question: How would history have unfolded had the IRA been successful in killing Thatcher? Rory Carroll is this week’s guest on the podcast

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LATE, LATE RUNNERS: Jane Suiter.

Thu, 11 May 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Speculation over who exactly will take over as presenter of the Late Late Show has been mounting as various presumed candidates have stepped forward to declare that they are not interested. So who is now the favourite and can he or she manage to ensure that the show maintains its relevance in a world transformed from the days when the show was unmissable.

Professor Jane Suiter from DCU discusses the past, present and future of the show.

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AMERICAN DREAM TURNED SOUR: Catherine Shanahan.

Thu, 04 May 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Next month a brother and sister from a highly successful Co Kerry family which made good in New York are due to be sentenced for fraud offences. Donal and Helen O’Sullivan were found guilty of the offences in relation to contributions from their construction company to union funds. It’s all a long way from Ballinskelligs in south Kerry where the family grew up and a long way from the dizzying success the family achieved in New York, where they were pillars of the Irish and Irish American community. The Irish Examiner’s Catherine Shanahan has the full story and she is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SEAN MURRAY: They never came home.

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 18:56:56 GMT

This week an inquest into the deaths of forty eight young people in a fire in the Stardust disco in North Dublin in 1981 opened. It’s been a long, torturous journey for the bereaved to a point where they believe there is a very good chance of the truth of what happened to their loved ones finally being established. Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray has been following the journey of the Stardust families for most of his journalistic career and he was present this week to witness pen pictures of those who lost their lives. Sean is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE MONK WALKS: Sean Murray

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 19:00:00 GMT

The acquittal of Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch on the charge of murder this week has raised a whole host of questions, mostly for the gardai and the DPP. Why was this case ever brought? How did anybody build a case around the main prosecution witness, Jonathan Dowdall, whose character was ripped apart in the witness box? What does the ruling say about the controversial Special Criminal Court? And why does it appear that Gerry Hutch has achieved some level of sympathy among sections of the public? Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray covered the trial and he is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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DEBATING THE REPUBLIC: Theo Dorgan

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 19:00:00 GMT

The debates on the Anglo Irish Treaty which took place in December 1921 into January 1922 were historic and tragic, leading ultimately to the Civil War. Poet Theo Dorgan adapted the debates for Anu Productions which staged a ten hour production over four nights and was ultimately streamed on RTE last Saturday, the centenary of the vote on the treaty. The result is enthralling and profoundly sad in light of what was to unfold in the following months. Theo Dorgan speaks about what he learned from working on the material, how the men and women of the day were brought to life and what exactly is this Republic about which they argued.

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MORE THAN JUST A CORRESPONDENT: Paul Hosford

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 19:00:00 GMT

The Irish Examiner’s political correspondent has the lowdown on what exactly the government and state apparatus are doing to celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Paul also talks about his own family in which he discovered during childhood that his grandfather was from the North yet the Troubles were never discussed. Then there is his own contribution to cross border relations through his involvement in all island American football. We also discover that he even plays with an American accent.

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GEAROID O FAOLEAN: A BROAD CHURCH

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 19:00:00 GMT

Prominent members of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael harbouring escaped IRA men, kidnappings replacing armed robberies, gardai saluting IRA funerals, agricultural grants used to build sheds for storing bombs, a plan to flood the economy with counterfeit £10 notes. Those were just some of the incidents and activities in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s while a violent conflict was taking place just north of the border. So how much support was there for the Provos in the south and what form did it take. Gearoid O Faolean has written a new book about what exactly went on and some of the revelations are surprising, with one of two jaw dropping. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CARMEL MCMAHON: Of Time and Trauma.

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:00:00 GMT

Carmel McMahon immigrated to New York when she was twenty with a suitcase of dreams and plenty of unseen baggage. Her time in the city was marked by both awakenings and struggle, most of it personal, including bereavement and a long battle with alcohol. In a lyrical memoir she combines her personal and family story with that of the history of the country of her birth and how trauma can be passed down through the generations unless and until it is dealt with. Carmel is this week’s guest on the podcast where she talks about her book, In Ordinary Times, Fragments of a Family history.

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LIZ DUNPHY: Tina Satchwell, still missing.

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 20:00:00 GMT

Tina Satchwell went missing on 20 March 2017. The Cork woman was much loved by her family and did not overtly appear to have any problems in the world. The case has baffled gardai who have been involved in both a widespread search and a thorough investigation of the case. One senior garda source told the Irish Examiner that they are convinced there is somebody out there who can provide further clues as to what happened her. Irish Examiner Liz Dunphy is reporting this week on the case, the heartache that lingers for Tina’s family and the leads that investigators have followed.

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SEAN HEALY: Fifty years-a-fighting.

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 20:00:00 GMT

This week it was announced that the director of Social Justice Ireland Fr Sean Healy was stepping down from his role after half a century working on behalf of the most marginalised in society. Along with his co-founder of SJI, Sr Brigid Reynolds, he is calling it a day to make way for the next generation. On the podcast he speaks about his origins in Cork, his early experiences in Africa, how Bertie Ahern roped him into talking to Fianna Fail in its pomp, and he asks why Leo Varadkar never got back to him on his proposal to eliminate poverty.

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OWEN O’SHEA: LEST WE FORGET

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 20:00:00 GMT

This month one hundred years ago the civil war reached its nadir with some horrific outrages in Co Kerry. Combatants on both sides died in terrible circumstances, including the outrage at Ballyseedy where nine men were tied around a mine and blown up. Miraculously one, Stephen Fuller, survived. This week's podcast guest is Historian Owen O’Shea, he looks back on those violent weeks and the subsequent fall out that resonated down through the generations. He also examines how exactly the past is being remembered today.

Neither political party which grew out of the civil war “covered themselves in glory” in how they treated those who were injured and damaged during the conflict, according to historian Owen O’Shea.

During the first decade of the state’s existence between 1922 an 1932 the Cumann na nGeadheal government was extremely parsimonious in compensating those who had fought on the free state side, and completely dismissive of anti-treaty veterans.

“Many were begging and begging in pension applications for some financial support,” O’Shea tells the Mick Clifford podcast. “They were battling mental health, financial troubles, breakdowns and immigration and the free state did very little in the first decade of its existence to support those who went out to fight for the state. Neither (political) party on the two sides of the conflict could claim they covered themselves in glory in that respect.”

The centenary of the Ballyseedy massacre, in which eight anti-treaty prisoners were blown up on a lonely road outside Tralee falls on March 7.

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WHO MURDERED FR PATRICK RYAN?

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 20:00:21 GMT

Forty years ago, Fr Patrick Ryan, a native of Doon in Co Limerick, was murdered in Texas. He had been living in the USA for a just three years after a career largely spent in Ireland and Africa. Pretty quickly a native American man James Reyos was arrested and charged with the murder. He was convicted and has spent the last four decades in prison or restricted in his movements on parole. Now, new evidence has emerged to suggest that he was not murderer. So how did everybody get it so wrong and where are the suspects whom the police now believe were responsible for the death of a much loved priest. Irish Examiner reporter Ann Murphy has the story

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POLLS AND THE FAR RIGHT: Kevin Cunningham

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 09:25:31 GMT

Protests against asylum seekers and refugees in recent weeks have given rise to the possibility that the far right may be in a position to enter the political arena in the near future. Throughout Europe, far right parties have been gaining strength over the last twenty years on a broad anti-immigration platform. That has not happened in this country but is it about to change?

Political academic and MD of research company Ireland Thinks Kevin Cunningham crunches the poll numbers and looks at the trends in Europe over the years for signs of what might be about to unfold here. He also asks the question whether the salience of immigration to the electorate can be reversed once it becomes an issue.

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FROM EXECUTION CHAMBER TO GALWAY: Ellen McGarrahan

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 20:00:00 GMT

As a young reporter, Ellen McGarrahan witnessed a botched execution of Jesse Tafero, who had been found guilty of murdering two police officers in Florida. Tefero’s girlfriend and co-accused Sunny Jacobs was also due to be executed but this was commuted and, following further legal challenges freed from prison. Sunny subsequently married Peter Pringle, who had been sentenced to death in 1980 for the murder of two gardai but was ultimately released. The couple settled in Galway. Meanwhile, Ellen McGarrahan set out to find the real truth about the crime for which Tafero suffered a horrible death. Was an innocent man executed by the state? Were he and his girlfriend wrongly convicted? McGarrahan’s quest brought around the world, including a few days in Galway in the company of Jacobs and Pringle. Ellen is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE POLITICS OF HEALTH: Fergal Hickey

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 10:38:32 GMT

This winter the country once again endured some shocking scenes of people lying on trollies in emergency departments in hospitals across the state. Then the crisis appeared to pass and many simply moved on. But the crisis hasn’t passed and lives are being lost throughout the year because of the crisis. Long serving consultant in emergency medicine Fergal Hickey has been a keen observer of the politics of health in this respect over the last thirty years and he remains deeply concerned that the needless loss of life every year is not receiving the attention it deserves. Fergal Hickey is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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LITTLE REPUBLICS: Adrian Duncan

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 20:00:00 GMT

One off housing has been a hot political potato for decades, and is still in the news. The government is due to issue new rules for one off housing at a time when there are objections to the whole concept for sustainability reasons but on the other hand some say that it has a role in play in tackling the housing crisis. Writer Adrian Duncan’s Little Republics – The Story of Bungalow Bliss features Jack Fitzsimons, a man who was instrumental in the proliferation of one-off houses in the 1970s and 1980s. The book also examines the cultural, economic and environmental impacts of this way of living and where it stands today. Adrian Duncan is this week’s guest.

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BUILD BACK BETTER: Ciara Phelan.

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 11:15:57 GMT

This week the government announced a €2.5bn redress scheme for the owners of apartments stuck by fire and other defects. The scheme comes at the end of a long campaign by homeowners but also raises questions about culpability. The state has acknowledged that regulation was, to put it at its mildest, lax during the frantic building boom of the 2000s, but what about the builders who threw up sub standard work in their rush to turn a golden buck. Mick talks to Irish Examiner political correspondent Ciara Phelan about the questions that arise and they also look in on the beleaguered Pascal Donoghue.

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DEBATING THE REPUBLIC: Theo Dorgan

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 20:00:00 GMT

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READING THE POLITICAL RUNES: Danny McConnell

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 20:00:00 GMT

What does the year ahead hold for politics? Irish Examiner political editor and current journalist of the year Danny McConnell joins Mick to give his forecasts on what to expect from the government under Leo Varadkar’s stewardship, what exactly to expect from the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, whether Micheal Martin is likely to lead his party into the next election and will Mary Lou McDonald continue to exude the appearance of a Taoiseach in waiting. Danny also gives his prediction on which politicians he expects to shine in 2023.

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PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST: Gavan Ring

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:00:55 GMT

Gavan Ring, one of Ireland’s leading tenors, talks about his life and work, performing post Covid, and why, when looking for a place to stay, it’s always better to describe oneself as an opera singer rather than a freelance musician! Gavan is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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THE POLITICAL YEAR THAT WAS: Elaine Loughlin.

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:00:42 GMT

This week’s podcast, the last of the year, looks back on the political year with Irish Examiner Deputy Political Editor, Elaine Loughlin. Who can face into the turkey and ham with a smug and relaxing demeanour and who realises they will have to do a lot better once the New Year bells are silent. Will the government, under its new Taoiseach, make an inroads into tackling the housing crisis, and what does the recently published Climate Action Plan mean to the general public. All is revealed.

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SEAN MURRAY: The Regency murder trial.

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 09:10:59 GMT

The Special Criminal Court is hearing evidence in the trial of Gerard ‘the Monk’ Hutch and two others for the murder of David Byrne at the Regnecy hotel in Dublin in February 2016. The chief prosection witness, a long time family friend of Hutch’s, is giving state’s evidence against his former friend. The testimony has been riveting, offering an insight into Dowdall’s version of gangland crime and his own travails after he was previously imprisoned for torturing another man. The Irish Examiner’s Sean Murray reports from the court for this week’s podcast.

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PIECING TOGETHER A FAMILY: Thomas Garavan

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 20:00:00 GMT

When Thomas Garavan was 12 he found out that his mother had a sister he never knew about. Over the following years, he was to discover that there were five other aunts and uncles whom he’d never heard about, all of whom along with his mother had been committed to Tuam Mother and Baby home when they were toddlers. The UCC academic set about tracing all of them and opening them up to the reality that they had siblings and extended families that they never knew about in a society where children committed to institutions grew up as second class citizens. Professor Thomas Garavan is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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NIALL KELLEHER: KILLARNEY A WELCOMING REFUGE

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 09:12:19 GMT

As numbers of refugees from the war in Ukraine and asylum seekers fleeing other forms of conflict continue to arrive in the country, accommodation services are under pressure. Reactions to the prevailing situation vary along the spectrum from welcoming to intolerance. However, some locations have been asked to do more than others in finding accommodation. One such town that has been in the headlines recently is Killarney. The town’s mayor Niall Kelleher talks about how Killarney has welcomed refugees and how it is managing in terms of accommodation but also in the face of wild and ugly untruths often spread about new arrivals.

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BUILDING UP: Michael O’Flynn and Rory Hearne.

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 20:54:51 GMT

How do we solve the housing crisis? The question is one bedevilling public life at the moment and will be at the centre of the next general election. The crisis is having major impacts right across society, but what are the answers. Michael O’Flynn, one of Ireland’s leading developers and housing policy analyst and author Rory Hearne was very different views on what needs to be done. In a robust exchange they put forward their respective proposals and punch holes in each other’s solutions. Michael O’Flynn and Rory Hearne are this week’s guests on the podcast

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THE TRUMP CARD: Bob Schmuhl.

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 20:00:00 GMT

This week Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2024. He is an early entry to the race and his announcement came in the wake of mid term elections in which the Republican party was expected to do much better. So does Trump have a good chance of making one of the greatest comebacks in US political history? Where now for his bogus claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him? And what will his candidacy do to the Republican party but also the growing chasm in US politics that is seeping into everyday life. This week’s guest on the podcast is presidential historian, Robert Schmuhl, who is emeritus professor at the University of Notre Dame and Adjunct Professor in the School of Law and Government in DCU.

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DAVID QUINN: Please don’t let me be misunderstood.

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 09:09:04 GMT

David Quinn is for many a standard bearer of conservative Catholicism, through both his commentary in the media and his stewardship of the Iona Institute. He says that he is one of the few voices of conservatism around today in a media bubble that, some, including himself, would say is dominated by liberal and left wing ideology. On this week’s podcast he talks about hate speech and why it is unsatisfactory in its current construct, why we won’t talk about immigration in this country and what exactly is the illiberal left. He also addresses the frequent allegations that pop up – usually on social media – about the funding of the Iona Institute.

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WORST LAID PLANS: Cianan Brennan

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 08:54:53 GMT

The planning board An Bord Pleanala has been beset by a series of controversies involving malpractice and misgovernance in recent months. Last week the Irish Examiner published details of an internal review at the board which outlined series issues and confirmed practically all the media reports that had come out in recent months. But has everything been revealed, and has any serious intent been attached to accountability? Cianan Brennan has been reporting on the An Bord Pleanala story for the Irish Examiner since it first emerged and he joined Mick on the podcast to untangle the strands and set out in plain terms why this is an issue that requires action from both the board and its political masters.

NOTE: Since recording this podcast, the chair of ABP, Dave Walsh, has announced he is taking early retirement.

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CATHERINE THE FAKE: ANN MURPHY

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Catherine O’Brien has had a varied business career flitting between law, the florist business, a veterinary products company and moving in the bloodstock world. Today, there is a bench warrant out for her arrest on a charge of animal cruelty and the Criminal Assets Bureau went to the High Court in order to seize an expensive car she owned which the CAB say is the proceeds of crime. So who is this woman and, more to the point, where exactly is she now. Irish Examiner investigative reporter Ann Murphy is on the case and she is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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WHERE LAW AND JUSTICE PASS EACH OTHER BY: Noeline Blackwell

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:00:06 GMT

Noeline Blackwell, currently the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, has spent her whole career working in human rights law. During that time she has always advocated for those who are seeking to have their rights vindicated, whether it’s through getting access to court or recovering from the trauma of intimate violence. She talks about the barriers that exist for the victims of violence who are seeking justice, how much has changed and how much more still has to be changed to accommodate victims in our legal system. Noeline Blackwell is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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REELING IN THE FAR RIGHT: Mark Malone.

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 19:00:00 GMT

A recent violent protest outside the Dail by far-right activists has once again raised the question as to whether their brand of intolerance is on the rise in this country. Throughout Europe, far right parties have been having electoral success this year, but beyond politics how much of a threat and these groups and how do they operate. Mark Malone, who has tracked the activities of the far right and works with the Far Right Observatory gives a fascinating insight into who’s who and why they need to be closely monitored. Mark Malone is this week’s guest on the Mick Clifford podcast

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SHANE ROSS: Hello Mary Lou, Goodbye Shane.

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Shane Ross has written a major biography of Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, entitled A Republic Riddle. He talks on this week’s podcast about the difficulties he had in getting people to talk to him about the book and how he still considers his subject’s evolution as a political being to be something of a riddle. He also defends a central theme of his book, that Mary Lou is not fully in charge but beholden in some sense to the “hard men” who ran the IRA and still hold sway in the so-called Republican movement. Shane Ross is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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HEALTHY DISCUSSION: David Culinane.

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Sinn Fein’s health spokesperson David Culinane is promising to reform the health service for once and for all. Last week his party published an alternative health budget but his plans go far beyond that. But how can he succeed where others have failed? Where will all the staff come from to fulfil his plans, and does he believe that reform is possible without closing some services and shipping major political pain? David Culinane is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CAN IRELAND BE ONE? Malachi O’Doherty

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 19:00:00 GMT

The prospect of a border poll at some point in the future, and the expectation that it would lead to a united Ireland, has prompted much discussion, debate and books. Most of the focus has been on how exactly this will come about and what kind of entity will emerge from unification. Now, however, veteran journalist and writer Malachi O’Doherty has written a book asking can we be as one and beyond that, should we. Malachi O’Doherty discusses what is a unique and wide ranging examination of the past, the present and the possible future on this island.

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A scandal that never sleeps: Kay Barrett

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 20:46:39 GMT

Kay Barrett, from Donaghmore Co Cork has experienced mental health difficulties which eventually led to her being imprisoned. Her family are highly concerned for her welfare and perplexed at a system in which the courts are forced to deal with people like Kay because the proper healthcare is not available. She is current serving a sentence for minor offences in Limerick prison and her sister Clair and aunt Carmel are particularly concerned about how the conditions in prison are impacting on her mental health.

Clair Barrett and Carmel Nestor are this week’s guests on the Podcast.

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ADOPTION STORY: Aoife O’Connell

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 19:00:00 GMT

In recent years the country has been coming to terms with how previous generations of young women were treated when they gave birth outside marriage. A dark and painful history has been laid bare in documents like the Mother And Baby Homes Report. But what is it like for adopted people today looking for the details of their birth and early life? Aoife O’Connell has been on such a journey and she has found that despite the excavation of the past adopted people are still not afforded the access to their own details that should be a human right. Aoife is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CARING OVER CAPITALISM

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 19:00:27 GMT

How caring is our society and how caring can it be in a political system that champions the individual? Kathleen Lynch, Professor Emeritus of Equality Studies in UCD has written a book about how capitalism ensures we do not care for each other as we should, or, more importantly, need to. On the podcast she points out how caring is completely unvalued in society, yet for individuals it is, or will be at some point, our more primal need. So what has to change and how do we go about it? Kathleen Lynch talks on this week’s podcast about the central messages in her book, Care and Capitalism.

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A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS OUT OF SIGHT: Hannah McCarthy

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 19:00:00 GMT

As the winter bears down on Afghanistan there are real fears of a famine with over 25m people now living in poverty under the Taliban regime. Irish journalist Hannah McCarthy has spent time in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over last August and she reports that there is a growing humanitarian crisis. She has also seen first hand the result of the American led sanctions and she questions who exactly is being worst impacted in the efforts to displace the Taliban. Hannah McCarthy is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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HEIRESS, BOMBER: Sean O’Driscoll

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Journalist Sean O’Driscoll has written a jaw dropping account of the life of Rose Dugdale, the British aristocrat who forsook her life in the upper echelons of British society to join the IRA in the name of a socialist revolution. Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber examines the exploits, politics and personal struggles of one of the most unlikeliest figures to emerge from the period of violence in Northern Ireland. O’Driscoll talks about how he came to write the book and the various figures who agreed to be interviewed, and the account he was told about Dugdale’s role in developing new bombs in a remote Co Mayo farm.

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Naoise Ryan: Talking on corporate America.

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 19:00:55 GMT

In March 2019, Naoise Connolly Ryan’s husband Mick Ryan was among 157 people who died when a Boeing 737 max aircraft crashed in Ethiopia. Mick Ryan was a senior engineer with the UN World Food Programme. It was the second fatal accident involving a Boeing max in five months. Since then, Naoise and other families have been trying to get justice for their lost loved ones. Boeing has offered all the bereaved families around €1.2m, but Naoise has turned that down and says she wants justice. So far, nobody of consequence has had to answer or a system in which profit was put ahead of passenger safety.

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DON O’LEARY: STILL LEARNING, STILL GIVING

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 19:00:03 GMT

Don O’Leary was told last February that he had less than a year to live. Despite that he has still not missed a day at work as the director of the Cork Life Centre, which caters for youths who are unsuited to the confines of the education system. He talks about how the system fails so many and how the Life Centre has managed to succeed with youths who might otherwise have had nowhere to go. He looks back over a life that included a term in Portlaoise Prison for membership of the IRA in the 1980s and how after he was released he grabbed a chance to get involved in education, which became his passion. Last year he received an honorary doctorate from UCC and he insists that he’s won’t let his condition dictate how he lives.

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WHO KILLED TOM OLIVER?

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 19:00:04 GMT

The killing of Tom Oliver in Co Louth in 1991 was one of the more shocking murders associated with the Troubles. The IRA claimed he was an informer, a charge his family deny. In 2017, the gardai re-investigated the murder and the team believed they had advanced the case. However, the case is now the brief of a British operation investigating collusion, called Kenova. But why has there been no prosecution? And what do two former British agents in the IRA know about the murder? And what does the garda commissioner know about it through his former role in the PSNI?

Retired chief superintendent John O’Brien spoke on the podcast about a case that plumbs some murky depths and for which Mr Oliver’s family have not received any answers.

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DANNY McCONNELL: Unpacking political buckets and spades

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 19:33:01 GMT

With the end of the Dail term in sight and a whole host of problems bedevilling the government, Irish Examiner political editor Danny McConnell runs the rule over the body politic’s performance since the start of the year. He covers all the issues with his usual insight, verve and colour and he even finds time to tell why it’s good to be a Dub. Well, most of the time.

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LAURA O’CONNELL: SURVIVING A STALKER

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 19:00:29 GMT

Sonya Egan was recently imprisoned for two years for a campaign of harassment against former Sinn Fein TD Jonathan O’Brien and businesswoman Laura O’Connell. Some details of the campaign, which also involved Egan stalking Ms O’Connell, were revealed in court. But on the podcast Laura O’Connell tracks how she first came into contact with Egan, how things developed to the point where Egan was harassing her on a nearly daily basis and what happened when she was forced to go to court to ensure her own safety. Laura also details the massive impact the whole affair had on her physical and psychological health.

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FERGUS FINLAY: We’ve been here before.

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 08:17:05 GMT

The enveloping inflation spiral and cost of living crisis is dominating public life today and practically everybody has been impacted in one form or another. This is the third major crises the country has faced in little over a decade, following a recession and the pandemic. But it is the first time in a generation that inflation is creating havoc in everyday lives.

Irish Examiner columnist Fergus Finlay was at the frontline the last time there was such a crisis, working as a union official and then for the government that grappled with the issue, as well as rearing a young family. He talks to this week’s podcast about what it was like, the differences today and how we can tackle the current crisis.

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CIVIL WAR ANNIVERSARY: The role of women.

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 19:00:00 GMT

With the centenary of the start of the Civil War arriving next week and the conflict having been marked by a major conference in UCC last week, we are looking at the role of women in what unfolded at the time. For most of the last hundred years, women were largely written out of the period but that is now changing. Apart from the general omissions there were women who played particularly prominent roles in the Civil War.

Dr Mary McAuliffe and Dr Hilary Dully joined Mick on the podcast for some fascinating insights in the role of women in the Civil War.

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MARTIN MCMAHON: A SICK SYSTEM

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Martin McMahon has seen first hand the inequalities within the Irish health system. A political activist, and co-founder of the Tortoise Shack podcast, Martin has had a cancer condition for the last thirteen years. His first hand knowledge of the system has opened his eyes to the gross inequities that current exist. But how can the problems be addressed and is the political will there to do something about it? Martin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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NIGHT OF TERROR: Neil Atkinson.

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 19:00:00 GMT

On 29 May the champions league final between Liverpool and Real Madrid took place in Paris but what unfolded was far more than a football match. Liverpool fans were dangerously penned into tight spaces ahead of the game, access was highly restricted and the folk memory of Hillborough in 1989 was to the front of many minds. After the match, the departing fans were tear gassed by police and attacked by gangs of thugs. To top it all off, the initial response from the French government was to blame the fans. So what happened and what does the occasion say about policing on the continent? Film maker Neil Atkinson, who presents the popular Anfield Wrap podcast was one of those present on the night and he is this week’s guest.

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TO ISLAMIC STATE AND BACK: Lisa Smith.

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 19:00:00 GMT

On Monday, Lisa Smith was found guilty at the Special Criminal Court of membership of Islamic state group, ISIS. The case, which included details of how Ms Smith, who was from Dundalk and served in the Irish army, converted to Islam and ultimately travelled to the Islamic State as it then was. She was detained, and married and then had to flee as Isis was in retreat, ending up in appalling conditions in a refugee camp. The evidence gave an insight into the kind of regime that existed in the nascent state and the depravity that was used to enforce the will of Isis. Court reporter Eoin Reynolds attended every day of the trial and he is this week’s guest.

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The Fraud Squad: Willie McGee

Thu, 26 May 2022 17:27:55 GMT

Willie McGee joined the fledgling garda fraud squad in the 1970s and over the following thirty years his work brought him to the front line of the kind of frauds that would make some good movies. From the gang that diverted phones from a bank while claiming money on fake bank drafts to the blackmailers who threatened to introduce foot and mouth disease into the country unless a ransom was paid, Willie saw it all. Now he has put his experiences between the covers of a book to tell it like it was. Willie McGee is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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GREAT HATRED: Ronan McGreevy

Thu, 19 May 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Nearly exactly one hundred years ago, Sir Henry Wilson was gunned down on the streets of London by two IRA men. The assassination was one of the seminal events leading up to the Civil War as the British government claimed that it had been ordered by the anti-treaty forces in Ireland.

Irish Times journalist Ronan McGreevy’s new book, Great Hatred, The Assassination of field marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP, provides context, colour and plenty of evidence from the time, the lead up to the killing and its aftermath. It also answers the question that has occupied historians over the last century. Who exactly ordered what was, at that point in time, a reckless operation.

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MASTER OF ALL HE SURVEYED: Ed Honahan.

Thu, 12 May 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Recently retired master of the High Court Ed Honahan was often in the headlines because of his interventionist approach to the job. Mr Honahan’s court was the first stop for hundreds of people who found themselves drowning in a sea of debt in the aftermath of the economic collapse in 2008. He gained a reputation as being a thorn in the side of banks who were of the belief they just had to show up and put their hands out to retrieve the loans which they had handed out with gusto when the Celtic Tiger was astride. Mr Honahan tells the podcast about how he tried to assist lay litigants, why the courts are inaccessible to most people and why one day he felt it necessary to break a window in his court.

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LIFE IN A TIME OF WAR: Polina Bashkina.

Sat, 07 May 2022 12:19:20 GMT

As the war in Ukraine continues, those who have fled to this country are trying to get on with their lives. Polina Bashkina had what she says was a good life in Kiev but all of that has now been whipped from her and her six year old son and they are currently living in Co Galway, awaiting developments. Polina is a journalist and she has written accounts of both her journey and that of other Ukrainians who have come to this country since the war began.

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A WRITING LIFE: Danielle McLoughlin.

Thu, 05 May 2022 19:00:00 GMT

The only Irish writer shortlisted for this year’s €100,000 Dublin Literary Award is Cork born Danielle McLoughlin for her debut novel, The Art of Falling. Danielle is a late comer to a writing life, having spent years practicing as a solicitor before taking up the pen seriously in a time of illness. Since then she has won wide acclaim for her short stories in particular and the reaction to her debut novel has raised her profile onto another level again. Danielle McLoughlin is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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NEW NORTH, OLD PROBLEMS: Mick Fealty.

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 19:00:00 GMT

The North goes to the polls on 5th May in what many are describing as the most significant election in the assembly’s history. Mick Fealty, founder and editor of the current affairs online publication Slugger O’Toole, believes the election is now Sinn Fein’s to lose. However, he also sees change afoot in the north with a growing middle ground and he would like to see far greater emphasis on the bread and butter issues that are the primary concern for most people. But what of the two big preoccupations that appear to take up a large amount of time with the two leading parties, the protocol and a border poll? Listen in to hear Mick Fealty’s unique take on what’s ahead.

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DANNY MCCONNELL: Taking the temperature.

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:00:00 GMT

There is a lot going on in the world at the moment and not a lot of it is good. Irish Examiner Political Editor Danny McConnell is this week’s guest and he takes the temperature in Leinster House and beyond, looking at how this country is addressing the war in Ukraine, dealing with the cost of living crisis and chewing the fat over carbon taxes. And there is also the matter of the new spring in the step of the Taoiseach Micheal Martin. Where did he get it and how long will it last?

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LOOKING SOUTH: Aideen Elliot.

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 19:00:00 GMT

While the focus of the world is on the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, there is an ongoing refugee crisis in southern Europe. Thousands fleeing war and persecution in the developing world are arriving on Europe’s shores but now a new regime is in place which has been compared to Ireland’s Direct Provision system. Detention centres are being built on Greek islands in order to house refugees ahead of any decision on their status. But the system has come in for severe criticism. Oxfam Ireland’s Aideen Elliot spoke to Mick about this and the wider problems around how refugees are regarded within Europe.

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IN FEAR OF FIRE: Claire Ryan.

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Claire Ryan bought her home in 2006 but within a year she knew that she was living in a dangerous development. Fire safety defects in the building were discovered. What followed was a fifteen year odyssey of stress and worry while no action was taken against the developer and the authorities appeared to turn the other way.

Claire’s experience is not unique but it is one of the more shocking examples of a problem that is believed to affect up to 100,000 homes built during the Celtic Tiger years. Also on the podcast is Pat Montague who represents the Construction Defects Alliance, a group of stricken homeowners who are seeking resolution to a problem that is not of their making.

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Ann Murphy: Sex for rent.

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 20:00:13 GMT

In the current housing market there are some who will use the crisis to exploit vulnerable people. One phenomenon that has come to light in recent times is the advertisement of rooms for rent at a low cost in exchange for sexual favours. Irish Examiner reporter Ann Murphy has done extensive investigative work in this area which has culminated in the introduction in the Dail of a private member’s motion to outlaw the practice. But how prevalent is it and what lengths will some go to exploit young women to such a degrading extent. Ann is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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UKRAINIAN VOICES: Cry, beloved country.

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 09:10:48 GMT

Natalya Summar has been living in Cork for twenty years but since 24th February she has been focused on doing what she can for her native Ukraine. She is now embarking on a journey to rescue her niece who has made it to Poland from her home in Kyiv. Natalya talks on the podcast about how her family are coping, and the guilt she feels being so removed from them and her friends.

We also talk to Tatiana Vargramenko, an anthropologist and UCC academic, about the history and culture of her native Ukraine and the ties the country has with Russia.

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LORCAN SIRR: Markets be damned.

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Housing is the defining issue of Irish politics at the moment but what do we talk about when we talk about housing? Lorcan Sirr has assembled a collection of experts to give their views on how housing impacts on all aspects of life, from attitudes to land to whether planning takes account of gender, health, aging and the environment. The book, Housing In Ireland – Beyond The Markets may well be a staging post for a national conversation on what exactly we need right now. Lorcan Sirr is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CONOR BRADY: The guards, now and then.

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Exactly one hundred years ago this month meetings took place in the Gresham Hotel to shape a new police force. Michael Collins chaired the first meeting and what emerged from the discussions was a new force that still had some hurdles to mount before settling down to be guardians of the peace. In the force’s centenary year, Conor Brady, former chair of the Garda Ombudsman and former editor of the Irish Times, assesses how AGS has got on and is getting on.

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ON DANGEROUS GROUND: Hilary Dully.

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 20:00:00 GMT

In this decade of centenaries, some of those who made their mark a century ago have had their lives and contributions critically examined. However, there has also been an acceptance that a number of women who lived through those times had not heretofore been recognised for their contributions. Marie Comerford is one such woman and her recently published memoir is probably the last first person account we are likely to see written by a witness and participant in extraordinary times.

On Dangerous Ground: A memoir of the Irish Revolution is edited by Hilary Dull and she is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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Peter Sweetman: Planning to stick around.

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 20:00:00 GMT

The government is examining how to cut down on protracted objections to planned projects and some people are up in arms about it. Peter Sweetman is, by his own admission, a serial litigator against planning decisions. He has a record of being successful in the actions he has taken – in some instances all the way to the European Court of Justice. This week, he spoke on the podcast about why the proposed changes to planning legislation would be illegal, what drives him and whether, on the cusp of 80, he has any intention of slowing down.

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FINOLA CASSIDY: WHEN A WONDER DRUG GOES WRONG

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Just over sixty years ago the morning sickness drug Thalidomide was withdrawn from the market when it was discovered that it was causing major foetal damage in the expectant mothers to whom it had been prescribed. Tens of thousands of mothers across Europe miscarried and at least another 5,000 babies were born without limbs, with limbs foreshortened and other serious medical issues. In Ireland the drug remained on the market for nine months after it was withdrawn by its German maker. Today there are about forty Thalidomide survivors and they are still seeking a state apology. Finola Cassidy is one such survivor and spokesperson for the Irish Thalidomide Association.

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AOIFE MOORE: Bloody Sunday.

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Sunday January 30 marks the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day that thirteen innocent people were shot dead in Derry by members of the parachute regiment of the British army. Another man later died from his wounds. Irish Examiner political correspondent Aoife Moore, a native of the city, is also a niece of one of those murdered on that day, Patrick Doherty. She talks about how the event traumatised and shaped whole communities and acted as a recruiting agent for the IRA.

She also discusses what she sees as apathy in the South towards the campaign by families to get justice.

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ELAINE LOUGHLIN: The year ahead in politics.

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 11:34:02 GMT

As always, the major political stories for the coming year are likely to emerge from nowhere that is currently on the horizon. However, we do know that there will be two major events in 2022. An assembly election in the North may well see Sinn Fein take over as the largest party and be rewarded with the office of First Minister. And in December – if the government gets that far – there will be a change of Taoiseach in the rotation agreement between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. But what else is likely to come dropping over the course of the year? Irish Examiner Deputy Political Editor Elaine Loughlin joined us.

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GARY MURPHY: Haughey.

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 11:28:06 GMT

Charlie Haughey bestrode public life in Ireland for four decades and was then hauled back into the spotlight in retirement when it was discovered that he had been in receipt of millions from wealthy individuals when he had been a senior politician.

Professor Gary Murphy of DCU has written a compelling account of Haughey’s life that examines the good, the bad and the ugly of probably the most talented and divisive politician of the second half of the last century. Turn on, sit back and listen to a fascinating account of Haughey and the times he lived in.

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HOME WHERE HIS HEART IS: Romi Ramtohil.

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 20:00:40 GMT

In 2019, Romi Ramtohil was living on the streets and in bad health. After thirteen years in this country he saw no way out of the rut into which he had fallen. He wanted to return to his native Mauritius. But how could he get there. He had no way home, no means, no passport, not even a mobile phone. Into the breach stepped a whole array of people to help Romi, including the Alice Leahy Trust, two gardai, and various medical personnel. The result was a rare good news story, which is particularly appropriate at this time of year. Alice Leahy and Garda Damien McCarthy are this week’s guests on the podcast.

The Mick Clifford Podcast

Irish Examiner

Mick Clifford

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WHERE'S ME CHRISTMAS JUMPER GOING: Jennifer Stevens.

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 20:00:55 GMT

How much damage is your poor old Christmas jumper doing to the environment? The cost of fast fashion in not just abuses of working and human rights, but also damage to the environment is now being acknowledged. Recent images from the Atacama Desert in Chile where hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unwanted clothes are left to rot slowly have presented the reality of what happens when we buy cheap and discard easily. The desert is one of the hottest places on earth and a favoured dumping ground for clothes from all over the world.

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JOHN TWISS: Justice delayed.

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 20:00:12 GMT

Last week the cabinet recommended a presidential pardon for John Twiss, a 34-year-old man who was hanged for a murder he didn’t commit in 1895. Twiss, a native of Castleisland in Co Kerry, was convicted on flimsy and manufactured evidence of the murder in Newmarket, Co Cork of a man who was an agent for landlords. Even before he was executed his case was recognised as a grave injustice. A petition signed by 40,000 people was presented to the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin but to no avail. Today, we examine the John Twiss case, including contemporaneous newspaper reports from the time.

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GABRIEL DOHERTY One hundred years a-growin’.

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 20:00:12 GMT

Exactly a century ago on 6 December, the Anglo Irish Treaty was signed in London. The document for the first time recognised Ireland’s right to independence, albeit under particular conditions. The occasion was marked by initial euphoria which quickly gave way to some confusion and anger, in turn leading all the way to the outbreak of civil war within six months. By August 1922, the two leading Irish signatories, Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, were dead.But how significant was the occasion? Did the signatories on the Irish side get the best deal possible? And did it really represent, as Collins claimed at the time, the freedom to achieve freedom. UCC history lecturer Gabriel Doherty spoke to Mick for this week’s podcast.

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Family tragedy foretold? Neil Michael.

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 20:00:19 GMT

On 25 February last on a small farm in North Cork, Johnny Hennessy killed his two brothers Paddy and Willie and then drowned himself in a nearby river. The three brothers had been close, their lives since childhood having largely revolved around the family farm. They were regarded as ordinary, decent hard working men. So what happened to prompt this tragedy and could anything have been done to prevent it. The Irish Examiner reporter Neil Michael, who attended the inquest into the brothers deaths, is this week’s guest.

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DIRTY TRICKS, FILTHY LIES: Frank O’Rourke.

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 20:00:59 GMT

Frank O’Rourke lost his Dail seat, which he had held for one term, in 2020. In the days prior to the election, there was both a physical leaflet drop and an online campaign which spread scurrilous lies about his personal life. He believes the campaign led directly to his loss and he launched a legal action against social media companies. One culprit was identified as having issued a defamatory tweet on the day of the election, but O’Rourke believes there was an organised campaign too, as he puts it, take him out. Frank O’Rourke is Mick Clifford’s guest on this week podcast.

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Imelda Wickham: Time’s up for prison.

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 20:00:11 GMT

Imelda Wickham spent twenty years as a prison chaplain in one of Ireland’s largest prisons. During that time she met hundreds of prisoners and their families and her experience has led her to the conclusion that for the greater part prison doesn’t work. She talks about the kind of people she met over her years as chaplain and the families of prisoners who have to bear their own burden. She also explores why it is that only those from the poorest backgrounds who usually end up behind bars. Imelda would like to see greater emphasis on restorative justice as it would facilitate the victim but avoid what is supposed to be the last resort of prison.

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ABUSED BY THEIR UNCLE, LET DOWN BY THE SYSTEM.

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 17:30:04 GMT

Three sisters and their cousin suffered prolonged abuse as children at the home of their uncle in Dublin. On November 1, Patrick Caffrey with an address at Grove Road, Harold’s Cross was sentenced to three years in prison. The ending of the legal process was a relief for the three Odumosu sisters, Grace, Siobhan and Fiona and their cousin Linda McDonagh. But the experience from the point where they disclosed the abuse to the conviction and sentence of the perpetrator was one that exacerbated the trauma they had suffered at the hands of their uncle. Grace and Siobhan Odumosu spoke to Mick for this week’s podcast.

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LIFE ON THE ROCK: Robert Harris

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:24 GMT

Robert Harris has, for the last thirty four years, spent at least six months every year living in Skellig Michael. His job description was originally caretaker/guide but he has come to be a keeper of the Rock and its heritage and role as a bird sanctuary. Robert has now written a moving and fascinating account of the rock, its power and his relationship with it, entitled Returning Light: 30 Ye.ars of Life On Skellig Michael.Robert Harris is this week’s guest on the podcast

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ON THE DICTATOR’S TRAIL: Ronan Tynan.

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 05:00:24 GMT

Anne Daly and Ronan Tynan’s latest documentary Bringing Assad To Justice examines the attempts by hundreds of exiled Syrians to gather enough evidence to ensure that one day Bashar al Assad will have to stand trials for his war crimes. This is the Irish filmmaker’s second piece of work on the war in Syria where at least 350,000 people have died and six million have been forced to leave the country. The documentary is particularly timely as recent events suggest there are already attempts to invite the Syrian dictator back into the international community. Ronan spoke about the making of the film, the brave people he encountered and how an Irish video journalist in the New York Times highlighted how the regime had actually targeted hospitals for bombing.

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Aidan Regan: Right you are on the left.

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 05:00:52 GMT

Are Irish voters moving to the left and if so why? Results from the 2020 general election appear to indicate that a growing number of voters are now voting on the left of the political spectrum. But is this a fad, or related to specific issues in that election, or is it part of a growing trend in this country? If there is a move to the left then it is coming at a time when many countries in Europe and even further afield appear to be going in the opposite direction. Political economist Aidan Regan recently co-wrote a paper on the issue and he talks on the podcast this week about what is really going on, how long it has been going on and what exactly is left populism, which appears to be in the ascendant with Irish voters.

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One Object at a time: Tara Shine and changing how we live.

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 17:51:16 GMT

At a time when climate change is taking up more of the public square questions are being raised as to how we can all live more sustainably. To that end environmental scientist Tara Shine has penned a book How To Save Your Planet One Object At A time. The book shows how we can all make little changes incrementally in our daily lives that will ultimately not just save the planet but most likely save money too. Tara was Mick’s guest on this week’s podcast.

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Mary McGill: Facebook and Instagram – Anti social media?

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 10:19:59 GMT

This week a whistleblower told the US senate about how Facebook had suppressed research that showed the serious impact that use of the company’s Instagram platform can have on young women and girls. Frances Haugen said that anytime it came to a conflict between public safety and profit, Facebook always opted for the latter. So how harmful is the culture of Facebook and Instagram and what can be done to protect young people in particular from the worst excesses in pursuit of profit.

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IAN ROBERTSON: HOW CONFIDENCE WORKS

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 06:21:49 GMT

Are you a confident person or do you lack confidence? How does it feel to be confident and how can you get a little of that if you don’t have it. How powerful is the collective confidence in nations, large groups or even sports teams? And what is the crucial connection between confidence and action? Ian Robertson is Emeritus Professor of Psychology in Trinity College Dublin and he has written a fascinating book about the subject called How Confidence Works. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ONLINE AND IN YOUR LIFE: Dr Johnny Ryan.

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 17:00:19 GMT

How much do the big tech companies, led by Facebook, Google and Amazon, know about you? How big an influence do they have on your life without you even realising it? The role of big tech in all our lives has increased exponentially in recent years but a question arises as to whether elected governments have kept up with them to the extent that they can protect us, the citizens.Johnny Ryan of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties is co-author of a report, Europe’s Enforcement Paralysis, which suggests we may be living in a wild west of cyberspace.

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KERRY BABY

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 06:56:26 GMT

The exhumation of the body of ‘Baby John’ this week has once again awoken interest in the Kerry Babies case. The gardai are anxious to find the mother of the baby whose body was found on the White Strand in Cahirciveen in April 1984 with twenty eight stab wounds. So how close are the gardai to actually finding, after all these years, the missing person in this case of tragedy and injustice?Donal Hickey was one of the earliest reporters on the scene when the story first broke and he covered the tribunal that went down in history as a notorious example of how some women were treated in the Ireland of the time.

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Maeve Mullin: Who do you think you are?

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 07:00:57 GMT

Have you ever fantasised about the phone call to tell you a long lost and forgotten great aunt has just died and left you a forture? Maeve Mullin is a genealogist whose work includes tracking down the beneficiaries of Wills who could be the lucky recipient of such a phone call. Her work in Findersinternational brings her in contact with a treasure trove of human stories about love and loss and the lost and lonely and the odd recipient of that phone call.

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Osgur Breatnach: Sallins Inquiry

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 07:01:15 GMT

In 1976 the Cork-Dublin mail train was robbed setting off a series of events that led to a major miscarriage of justice. Osgur Breatnach was one of three men convicted and later cleared of the robbery. Another was Nicky Kelly, whose case came to international prominence when he went on a hunger strike prior to being released from prison and ultimately pardoned.For the last forty five years Breatnach has been pursuing the government to hold an inquiry into the whole matter. His cause has received support from civic society, politicians, lawyers and one retired judge. He spoke to the podcast about developments in the campaign and his own struggles to lead a normal life and the traumatic events that transformed his life.

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FORCED MARRIAGE: ESCAPING TO IRELAND

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 20:13:09 GMT

As the Taliban exerts control on Afghanistan and women’s basic rights come under attack again we speak to a woman from another part of the Islamic world who was subjected to a forced marriage. Dalal Alshohaib met the man she was told would be her husband when she was 18 and was forced to marry him a year later in her native Saudi Arabia. She managed to eventually get out of the marriage and now lives in Ireland where she is estranged from her family back home. Her story is one of struggle and ultimately triumph.

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Bryan McDonald: From Russia with Love.

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 06:48:20 GMT

Bryan McDonald is an Irish journalist working for the Russian online newspaper, Russia Today. From his home in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea he spoke to the podcast about how the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban is being viewed in his adopted country. He also spoke about what he says are misplaced western views about Russia, the very black economy there, how free or otherwise the media really is and how he ended up many miles from his native Co Carlow.

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END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: Cara Augustenborg.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 07:01:06 GMT

The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this week has provided a wake up call for the world at large. We can no longer continue to live as we have, particularly those of us who inhabit the wealthier countries. A huge reduction in carbon emissions will be necessary to stave off the worst aspects of the changing climate. But what exactly will this mean for all of us over the coming years? How must we change our lives in order to keep our climate? What moral responsibilities are now on our collective shoulders? Environmental scientist and writer Cara Augustenborg addresses these issues and explains why she believes a better society is possible if we are all willing to do our bit.

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Vera Regan: So, is it, like, the way I talk or what, like?

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 07:00:51 GMT

Vera Regan is Professor of Sociolinguistics in UCD and she listens to people professionally to find out and analyse why they speak as they do. How much does your language say about you, where you came from and where you aspire to go? Why do we use the words we use and why do some of us use words that others avoid? And where do you insert, like, the word like, not to mind the often annoying word, so. Sit back and listen.

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JOHN BORGONOVO: When the guns fell silent.

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 07:17:53 GMT

In July 1921 a truce was called in the War of Independence bringing to an end a conflict that was to shape the future of this island. The truce also ended a unity of purpose among Irish nationalists that had flourished since the Rising in 1916, to be replaced by a politics that was to last in one form or another for the following century.But what was it like for the man and woman in the street in Ireland when war came to an end? How did the combatants feel about it? And was there any way that what was to follow could have been avoided? Dr John Borgonovo, from UCC’s school of history, tells it like it was.

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Ian Bailey: What next?

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 07:01:02 GMT

Two documentaries on the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork in 1996 have recently been released. Ian Bailey, who was the chief suspect for the murder in its aftermath is a central figure in both productions. This week, he spoke to the podcast about how the documentaries have awoken interest in the case, their impact on him and how his life has altered significantly in recent months.

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SHIFTING GROUND: Susan McKay.

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 07:01:10 GMT

Twenty years after journalist Susan McKay wrote a book about Northern Protestants, she once more takes the temperature of the tradition right across society in the north with her new book, Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground. The publication comes at a time when the ground is indeed shifting, with the fall-out from Brexit and an increasing number of people wondering whether the march towards a united Ireland is now gathering pace. Susan talks about how many within the statelet are now looking south with a different attitude despite the rhetoric that appears to be the staple of political leadership within the unionist tradition.

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HARROWING JOURNEY: Rebecca Price and Pat Kiely.

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 18:25:00 GMT

Rebecca and Pat were told that their unborn baby had a fatal foetal abnormality and proceeded to have a termination as a result. Three weeks later they discovered that the information they received was completely incorrect. Their baby was perfectly normal. On Wednesday they settled a High Court action with those involved in the catastrophic error. The couple are this week’s guests on the Podcast.

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NO MAN’S LAND: Elaine Loughlin.

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 07:01:19 GMT

Should one-off housing be allowed to a much greater extent than it is and would that contribute towards tackling the housing crisis? Irish Examiner Deputy Political Editor Elaine Loughlin is this week’s guest on the podcast where she sets out the case for a more innovative approach to one-off housing at a time when communities across the country are seeing so many young people fleeing rural Ireland. We also discuss the wider issue of how much the high price of land has impacted on the housing crisis today.

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ARTHUR GRIFFITH: Father of us all.

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 06:05:34 GMT

This year marks the centenary of one of the most momentous years in the country’s history. Arthur Griffith was a leading figure during the revolutionary period who has perhaps not been remembered with the same respect and affection as others. Founder of Sinn Fein in 1905, friend of the 1916 leaders, president of the provisional government while DeValera was in the USA and one of the chief negotiators of the Anglo Irish Agreement in 1921. Why, in the popular imagination, is Griffith not held in higher esteem? Colum Kenny, author of The enigma of Arthur Griffith – Father Of Us All joins the podcast to rake over the man, his life and his legacy.

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SAOIRSE EXTON: KEEPING US ON OUR TOES.

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 06:51:07 GMT

This week’s guest Saoirse Exton is worried about the planet, the future and the failure of those who lead to act against the dangers.Saoirse is a 15-year-old transition year student in Limerick who wrote to the Irish Examiner to express her anger and concern at the apparent disregard for the ravages of climate change. She is already an experienced activist in her young life and rightly feels that her generation needs to take the initiative.“I am sick and tired and angry and yet I have barely lived,” she wrote. “I am exhausted simply by caring. My grief runs deep, it saps my strength when I am forced to continue to live in a society shaped by your hands that simply does not care.”

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RADICALISATION ONLINE: Caolan Robertson.

Fri, 28 May 2021 07:01:03 GMT

How long does it take to be radicalised online? Caolan Robertson reckons as short as six weeks and he should know because he was radicalised and went on to make videos for You Tube for a range of different right wing extremists and conspiracy theorists. He travelled extensively making these films, including back to his native Ireland at the time of the Eighth amendment referendum. Today, he is dedicated to warning people of the dangers of radicalisation, which, he believes, is growing at an alarming rate.

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HOMING IN ON THE PANDEMIC.

Fri, 21 May 2021 07:03:04 GMT

Normal fare in politics has resumed with a bang as we appear to be finally heading out of the pandemic. Housing is the issue that is dominating and according to this week’s guest, Irish Examiner political editor Danny McConnell, it is also likely to be the front and centre all the way to the next election. Danny talks about how this government and its predecessor appears to have missed a trick in really tackling the housing issue before it got to where it is now at. He also runs the rule over the forthcoming Dublin Bay South by-election.

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NO HOMES TO GO TO: Trapped millennials

Fri, 14 May 2021 07:01:16 GMT

This week’s report from the ESRI says that the millennial generation in this country is likely to be the first to be worse off than their parents. Stagnant wages, and particularly rising house prices and rent, mean that those in their 20s and 30s are experiencing serious struggle to follow the well trod path of settling down and owning their own home.So what is it really like for those who left education with high hopes a few short years ago? Do they feel betrayed, bitter, confused? Do they retain any optimism about the future? This week the podcast guests were two millennials, Ryan O’Rourke and Shauna Bowers.

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Kieran McCarthy on his IRA past and Sinn Fein at present.

Wed, 12 May 2021 09:37:21 GMT

Kieran McCarthy is a former IRA member and a former Sinn Fein councillor. He left the party after a falling-out in 2015. Unlike others who have left he is largely in agreement with the Sinn Fein political project and is not a critic of the party, although he has some issues about how his time there came to an end. He spoke to the podcast about his past in the IRA, his belief that the campaign of violence was justified and about who is in control of the party’s principle policy – bringing about a united Ireland.

Irish Examiner

Mick Clifford Podcast

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Mark O’Connell: END OF THE WORLD AS THEY KNOW IT.

Fri, 07 May 2021 07:01:20 GMT

Author Mark O’Connell spent two years travelling around the globe meeting individuals and groups who are preparing for, well, the end. ‘Notes From an Apocalypse – A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back’ is his fascinating and humorous account of what makes these people tick and how he can relate to some of their anxiety. Mark is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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SERPICO ON SERPICO

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 06:18:58 GMT

Frank Serpico exposed major corruption in the New York Police Department and his story spawned the Hollywood classic movie, Serpico, with Al Pacino in the eponymous role. Fifty years later, Frank Serpico is going strong, railing against corruption, finding new hope in nature and still carrying the bullet in his head since the night he was shot in controversial circumstances.He talks to the podcast about the police and their attitudes to minorities, then and now, and whether the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd will change anything. He also talks about his own experiences, the Irish cops he knew, how he nearly died the night he was shot and why he’d do it all again.

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Fields of Dreams: Brian Cuthbert

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 06:40:18 GMT

With outdoor activity opening up again for children and adults, will it just be a question of picking up where we left off? What impact did the lockdown and the pandemic have on the development of children, particularly in the relationship so many of them have with sport? Will the events of the last fifteen months prompt sporting organisations to rethink how to engage with children and those attracted to their games?To address these and related questions, the podcast spoke to Brian Cuthbert, school principal, former senior Cork football manager and an expert in the field of youth development in sport.

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LINDA DOYLE: BREAKING NEW GROUND

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 06:29:27 GMT

Linda Doyle this week became the first woman Provost in Trinity College’s 429 year history. She talks to the podcast about growing up in Cork, how she came to study engineering in UCC and why at first she thought she would never fit into Trinity. As the only professor of both Engineering and the Arts in the world, she explains how the disciplines compliment each other by looking at the world from different perspectives.

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JUDE AND FRANK: Home is where the city is.

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 06:59:52 GMT

Jude Sherry and Frank O’Connor are urban designers who moved from Amsterdam to Cork three years ago. Their experience abroad living and working in cities that have been repopulated in recent decades prompted them to look around their new environs and envisage a vibrant future, where hundreds of derelict buildings are transformed into living hubs. But how do you get there? How do you transform the dereliction that blights towns and cities all over the country and create twenty first century urban living spaces. Listen in.

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DEREK SCALLY: OF CHURCH AND STATE

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 08:00:40 GMT

Derek Scally’s book, The Best Catholics In The World, is part personal journey, part reportage and full of insight into the role of the Catholic Church in Irish society down through the ages and recent decades. He traces over his own childhood, speaks to those who still worship and to some of the leading figures in the decline and fall. He also provides a fresh perspective into the complicated relationships between church, state and society. Derek is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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PADDY MORIARTY – Murder or a victim of harsh terrain.

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 08:18:17 GMT

In December 2017, Paddy Moriarty, a native of Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick went missing for his home in the Australian outback. He lived in the town of Larimah, pop 12. He disappeared along with his dog. There was no sign of a struggle or anything out of the ordinary in his home. Pretty soon, the police suspected he was the victim of foul play. But who in the tiny hamlet would want to have done harm to the 70-year-old Irishman? Kylie Stevenson, co-producer of the podcast series Lost In Larimah, joined Mick to talk about the case.

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PHYSICIAN, WRITE THYSELF: Seamus O’Mahony

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 07:50:12 GMT

Seamus O’Mahony is an author and doctor who brings wry observations, dark humour and social awareness to the books he has written while practicing as a consultant gastroenterologist in Cork University Hospital. He retired last year just before Covid hit and his latest book The Ministry of Bodies has been described as “a brew of madness and sadness worthy of Flann O’Brien".

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WHO IS THE MOST EQUAL AMONG US?

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 07:43:48 GMT

Economist Seamus Coffey and trade unionist Brendan Ogle have opposing views on whether or not Ireland is a relatively equal or unequal country and whether it is heading in the right direction in that respect. Both have recently produced work putting forward their respective positions. They debate here cogently and with not a little fire and sparks.

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NOEL BAKER: A scam for the ages.

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:02:02 GMT

This week a married couple, both solicitors, were jailed for an elaborate fraud that robbed banks of credit unions of at least €400,000. The couple, who had been in practice in Cork used false identities, scanners and disguises including wigs, to pull off their sophisticated criminal enterprise. The Irish Examiner’s Noel Baker reported on the story for the newspaper and he tells the podcast of their rise and fall.

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ORLA HEALY: THE PUBLIC’S HEALTH IN A PANDEMIC

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 07:59:27 GMT

As we approach the first anniversary of the arrival of the coronavirus on these shores, public health specialist Dr Orla Healy discusses the rollout of the vaccine in this phase of the pandemic. She talks about any possible pressure points in the roll-out and how the development of vaccines has been transformed in this pandemic.Dr Healy, who is leading the Covid Response for the HSE in the South and South West, also details how the approach to and resourcing of public health has changed as a result of our experience over the last twelve months.

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AOIFE MOORE: The wrongs of the right and upheaval up North

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 07:53:59 GMT

Worrying activity online and the targeting of high profile individuals from a minority background formed the basis of an investigative piece of journalism by Irish Examiner reporters Aoife Moore and Paul Hosford. Aoife tells the podcast why serious vigilance is required to ensure that a campaign of hate does not take hold in this country as it has elsewhere.Also, she explains why the latest controversy over policing in the North is tapping into some old resentments in the nationalist community.

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Saoirse McHugh: Not easy bein’ green.

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 08:02:18 GMT

Saoirse McHugh had a brief but high profile time as an election candidate for the Green party. The 30-year-old activist narrowly missed being elected to the European parliament, subsequently missed out on a Dail seat and then resigned from the party in opposition to the decision to go into government.Here the environmental activist discusses her time in the party but also where she sees climate change and biodiversity challenges developing and whether or not a breakaway Green party is in the offing in the near future.

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Denis Eustace: Minding the mind in a time of Covid.

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:01:07 GMT

Denis Eustace is the fifth generation of his family to train and practice as a consultant psychiatrist. He has specialised in later life mental health. Since the onset of the pandemic he says that he and colleagues are noticing some very worrying features in the mental health of older people. Fear and isolation are contributing to a rise in people experiencing mild cognitive impairment and more needs to be done to protect one of the most vulnerable cohorts in the population at this particular time.

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REGINA DOHERTY: IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 07:54:13 GMT

Last week, the former minister for Social Protection became the first parliamentarian from the government benches to criticise the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report. Now the leader of the Seanad, she talks about what she feels needs to be done for survivors of the homes. She also explains why she changed her mind after initially indicating she would leave politics when she lost her seat, and why she bristles at the narrative that her Fine Gael party is full of privately educated and privileged representatives.

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Katherine O’Donnell: Mother and Baby Homes Report

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:06:37 GMT

The report of the Commission of Investigation into the Mother and Baby homes has answered some questions and left many others hanging about the treatment of women who gave birth outside of marriage in twentieth century Ireland, and the fate of their babies.For whom was the investigation conducted? Was it for those who gave birth and were born in these homes, or was it to provide the state with a forum to tell itself a story about the times?To discuss that and other issues that have arisen since the publication, Mick was joined by Dr Katherine O’Donnell, Associate professor at the School of Philosophy in UCD and a member of the Justice for Magdalene Research group.

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EDDIE HOBBS: Hunkering down for the big reset.

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 08:00:02 GMT

Financial consultant Eddie Hobbs takes out his crystal ball and looks into the future as it might unfold once we get the pandemic under control. That future, according to Eddie, could well be determined by a technocracy of the world elite who meet and make plans under the guise of bodies like the World Economic Forum.He cautions that the democratic world must be vigilant to avoid being subjected to the kind of controls that totalitarian states like China exercise on their people. And he also thinks that we might emerge from the pandemic in pretty good nick in this country.

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War of Independence Part Four: Women of their Time - Helene O'Keeffe

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:00:08 GMT

War of Independence Podcast - Part Four:WOMEN OF THEIR TIME: Helene O’Keeffe.The role of women during the revolutionary period had, until recent decades, not so much been written out but not written in at all. That is beginning to change with greater research into the roles played by women both inside and outside Cumann na mBan. Helene O’Keeffe speaks here about a number of the women who made serious contributions during that period.

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HOW WERE THEY FOR YOU? Assessment of ministers in 2020.

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 08:08:15 GMT

The Irish Examiner political team runs the rule over the ministers in the government since its formation last June.Danny McConnell, Elaine Loughlin, Paul Hosford and Aoife Moore give their individual assessments and markings out of 10 for each of the ministers who have governed during what must be one of the most difficult times in a generation. There are a few surprises in there, some who have done better than might have been expected, and a few who most definitely must do better once the New Year opens up.

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ALICE LEAHY: Bringing in the Outsiders.

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 08:11:36 GMT

Alice Leahy is this week’s guest. She talks about the people who visit the Alice Leahy Trust at this time of year, particularly those who have no homes and quite often simply don’t fit into society.Alice has been running the Trust Agency, which is a drop in centre in Dublin’s inner city, for more than forty years and she wonders whether the pandemic will have given people the opportunity to slow down and take time to spend a little time with each other.

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War of Independence Part Three : The War - John Borgonovo

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Mick Clifford talks to John Borgonovo on the War of Independence. The War of Independence was an early example of guerrilla warfare, fought with the co-operation and consent of the native population. But how intense was the war? What kind of people were the volunteers and how did they operate and engage with the native population and how did they deal with informers?Dr John Borgonovo is the guest on this week’s podcast, one of the Irish Examiner’s series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the revolutionary period.

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Aoife Moore: A WEEK NOT FOR THE WEAK

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 08:00:50 GMT

Irish Examiner political correspondent Aoife Moore is on the podcast talking about a week in which she found herself the target of online trolls from across the political divide, having a go at her over various pieces she has written in the paper. She also talks about attitudes down south to a Derry girl like her and whether or not a border poll would receive as great a welcome among the nationalist community in the north as some might think.

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War of Independence Part Two : The Burning of Cork - Kieran McCarthy.

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 09:00:05 GMT

Kieran McCarthy: The burning of Cork in December 1920 was one of the seminal events of the War of Independence. Major damage was done to the city centre and to the psyche of the population in what was an wanton act of violence and destruction. The event had a major impact on the city and its populace for many years after. Historian Kieran McCarthy discusses what led up to the fateful night, how it unfolded and the drawn out aftermath.

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PARENTS’ QUEST FOR ANSWERS

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 07:42:42 GMT

After their son Niall took his own life John and Johanna O’Hara went looking for answers as to what had driven him to despair. They were to discover that Niall, a student in Maynooth University, had been arrested on a minor public order incident the night before he died. They also found out that there had been an earlier incident some weeks previously. Niall had never been “a moment’s trouble” so they are convinced that his death was directly attributable to what happened on those nights. Their experience in trying to piece together what afflicted their son has left them deeply disillusioned with An Garda Siochana.

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War of Independence Part One: A Tale of Two Mayors - Gabriel Doherty.

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 09:00:12 GMT

A TALE OF TWO MAYORS: Gabriel Doherty.Tomas MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney both served as lord mayors of Cork in 1920. Both tenures in office were very short as Mac Curtain was murdered in his home two months after taking the mayoral chain and MacSwiney, his successor, died in Brixton Prison at the end of a 74 day hunger strike.Historian Garbriel Doherty sketches out the lives and deaths of these two close friends, their respective roles in the War of Independence and how each of them is regarded within Cork and beyond.

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HOME ALONE:

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 07:50:55 GMT

How good is the system in this country in catering for parents of new born children? Can and should the state and employers do more? Do women get a raw deal from the existing system? Do we need a cultural shift in attitudes towards parental leave and parental equality.Irish Examiner political correspondent and relatively new mother Elaine Loughlin talks to the podcast about her experience and her research in the area.

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MIRIAM KENNY: FIGHTING TO RIGHT THE STATE’S WRONGS

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 07:31:28 GMT

How does it feel to get up every day and face into fighting for your children’s rights? That’s the lot of thousands of parents of children with a disability. The law is there to protect all children, including those with a disability, but repeatedly the state and its agencies fail to observe it. One of the biggest issues for these parents is finding a school for their children. Miriam Kenny, chairperson of Involve Autism is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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CATHERINE CONNOLLY: An Independent Voice

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 07:54:56 GMT

Independent TD Catherine Connolly has had a varied background that includes working as clinical psychologist and a barrister before she arrived in politics. Last July she was elected the first female Leas Ceann Comhairle of the Dail. She talks about her new role, how she doesn’t enjoy being a politician, her time in the Labour party and how anger brought her into politics.

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JOHN O’BRIEN: Policing and politics

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 08:17:05 GMT

John O’Brien spent thirty eight years in An Garda Siochana at a time when the state and policing went through transformational change. From chasing paramilitaries along the border to putting together cases against gangland crime figures he accumulated huge experience, all of which he retells in his new memoir A Question Of Honour. The retired detective chief superintendent is also a keen student of the interface of politics and policing and offers some strong opinions on where it works and where it doesn’t.

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BOB SCHMUHL: Is Trump’s time up.

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 07:57:23 GMT

Next Tuesday sees the election for the next US president in a contest that many believe to be the most important in decades. Can Donald Trump, against the odds, succeed in getting four more years? Or will the American people, through their extraordinary method of electing a president, prefer a safe pair of hands in Joe Biden?Mick was joined by Professor Bob Schmuhl of Notre Dame University to discuss the two contestants, their respective records and who will be the last man standing.

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NATASHA DROMEY: The Right on the rise.

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 07:18:47 GMT

Right wing extremism is growing in Ireland, according to the annual report from the EU crime agency, Europol. This is the first time that this country has featured in the EU body’s monitoring of right wing extremism.So is this ideology, which has been gaining traction around the world, not least in the United States, a threat to the current political landscape? And who are these right wing extremists who have come to the attention of Europol and the gardai in this country. Dr Natasha Dromey who lectures in UCC and is an expert on terrorism spoke to this week’s podcast.

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A BUDGET LIKE NO OTHER.

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 21:31:46 GMT

There was plenty of spending but very little corresponding cheer in Budget 2021, mainly because of the pandemic that has impacted on all our lives.But are there any reasons to be cheerful and have the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure spent wisely and covered all bases?Economist Jim Power and Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Danny McConnell joined Mick to discuss this and other elements of Budget 2021.

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Micheal Martin: 100 Days and Counting.

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 19:30:06 GMT

Earlier this week the government passed the milestone of 100 days in office. An unprecedented coalition has been governing through unprecedented times and it has been something of a baptism of fire full of controversies, the odd scandal and the continuing threat that the virus poses to public health and society.Taoiseach Micheal Martin is the podcast’s guest this week to look back over what has been achieved and what could have been done better. He also sets out the current state of the relationship between his government and NPHET.

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DONIE O’SULLIVAN: ON TRUMP’S TAIL

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 06:27:46 GMT

CNN Reporter Donie O’Sullivan attended the Minnesota rally on Wednesday where the Covid 19 virus first became apparent among Donald Trump’s staff. Just over twenty four hours later the president tested positive for the virus.Donie talks about how the adoring crowd paid homage to Mr Trump at what may well turn out to be his last major rally in the campaign and he relates what the president’s supporters at the event think of their hero. He also reports on the election online where misinformation and false flags are playing a major role in the presidential campaign.

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NEASA HOURIGAN: It’s not easy bein’ Green

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 06:25:14 GMT

Neasa Hourigan is the Green party’ spokesperson on finance who has had a baptism of fire in politics going from a full time carer to a councillor and onto TD all in the space of seven months. Following her election to the Dail last February she was a part of the Greens negotiating team in coalition talks yet voted within the party not to go into government. She is currently seeing out a suspension on Dail speaking time for voting against the government on a bill to allow for evictions. She spoke to this week’s podcast about her politics, her place in the Green party and what a just transition looks like.

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SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: Can Trump win again?

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 07:51:56 GMT

The US election is little over six weeks away and the polls still favour Joe Biden but the race is tightening. This time around Donald Trump is no longer the outside promising to “drain the swamp”. He is instead outgoing president who is running on his record.How exactly is Trump regarded in this country? One person who believes that many in the Irish media follow the lead of their counterparts in the US media is Seth Barrett Tillman, an American academic living in this country. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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DES O’NEILL: ASSISTED DYING OR ASSISTED LIVING?

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 06:29:36 GMT

A private member’s bill advocating a law for assisted dying will be introduced in the Dail in the coming week by People Before Profit Gino Kenny. The topic was recently in the news when cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan said that she would be in favour of any such law.But what is involved and is Irish society ready to move in the same direction as counties such as Holland, Belgium and Canada and some US states.Joining the podcast this week to dig down into the topic is Professor Des O’Neill, specialist in geriatric and stroke medicine.

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TIME FOR A BASIC INCOME

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 06:00:34 GMT

As we face into a new post Covid world many economists, sociologists and political scientists are predicting that major changes will have to be made to how we live. In particular, there are fears that growing inequality could be a feature of the new world.In that vein an increasing number of people are looking at new concepts, none more so than that of Universal Basic Income. UCC economics lecturer Declan Jordan is one such voice and he told this week’s podcast what it’s all about.

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LEARNING THE HARD WAY: Colm Byrne

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 07:00:27 GMT

The country is bracing itself for the reopening of schools for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic last March. Major preparations have been put in place to comply with best practice in tackling the virus.But how are they managing in countries that are not as developed as ours. Colm Byrne is a teacher who has been living and working in Cambodia for the last six years where the schools remain in lockdown. He fears that if they don’t open within the next few months they may never open again. Colm spoke on the podcast about how life in Cambodia and particularly how it is for children and the teachers who are desperate to educate them in an Asian country still struggling to come to terms with its past.

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BACK TO SCHOOL WITH A BANG

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 06:45:37 GMT

Schools are reopening to a different world over the coming weeks, a world that is completely alien to all past and present pupils. This week, the podcast spoke to Richel Long, principal of the 800 student Christ King School in Cork about the preparations that have gone into getting the school in shape.From staggered schooldays to designated doors of entry, from furniture removal to a strict ‘no sniffles’ policy, Richel paints a vivid and stark picture of what awaits students, teachers and parents in this strange new world.

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REAL OR BOGUS JOBS – MARTIN MCMAHON

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:00:33 GMT

The recent outbreak of Covid 19 in the meat processing industry has given rise to questions about employment conditions in that and other low paying sectors. Workers in many of these sectors are forced to declare themselves as self-employed and as a result do not enjoy any of the protections or benefits that accrue to employees in normal circumstances. This in turn has knock on effects for the exchequer and society.Martin McMahon has long been an advocate for the elimination of what is called bogus self- employment and he is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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ANGELA DORGAN: MAKING ART IN A TIME OF COVID

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 07:00:19 GMT

Artists of all disciplines have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. It was difficult enough for the vast majority of artists to make a living before the pandemic hit but now they are forced to exist in world where, for example, social distancing throws up huge problems in performing. So what is to be done in order to ensure that art continues to be made in order to provide society with a vital form of oxygen?Addressing these and other questions on this week’s podcast is Angela Dorgan, Chair of the national campaign for the arts and CEO of First Music Contact.

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Will Ian Bailey be sent to France?

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 07:16:14 GMT

The French authorities are attempting once more to have Ian Bailey extradited for the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier. This week the High Court heard an application to surrender Mr Bailey following his conviction last year in a Paris court of the 1996 murder.The DPP in this country has repeatedly ruled that Mr Bailey does not have a case to answer in relation to Ms Du Plantier’s violent death. The courts here must now decide whether or not Mr Bailey is to be extradited to France, where he is likely to spend the rest of his days in prison. The podcast spoke to law lecturer Jennifer Kavanagh about what is at stake legally in the current chapter of this long running saga.

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Getting the message across.

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 06:34:20 GMT

Communications expert Terry Prone is the guest on this week’s podcast to give her insight on what is working and what is not working for politicians striving to get their message across.She also runs the rule over Donald Trump’s communication strategy and explains why she thinks Eamon Ryan’s wife, Victoria White, should not have relinquished her highly rated Irish Examiner column because of her husband’s new job.

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FOLLOWING THE KINAHAN MONEY

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 11:12:28 GMT

The recent high profile spat over Daniel Kinahan rising in the world of boxing has thrown up interesting questions about organised crime and sport. Mr. Kinahan has been named in the High Court as a major player in organised crime. Yet outside the country, and particularly in boxing, he was regarded in relatively benign light until recent months.Security analyst Sheelagh Brady talks to the podcast about how crime and sport have become entangled around the world, how the major criminals are now washing their money and why some are running out of places to hide.

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AND THEY’RE OFF

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:56:32 GMT

A new government was formed on Saturday 140 days after the general election. Micheal Martin was elected Taoiseach and he appointed a cabinet with a few surprises.So what will this new government be like, how will it govern and what impact will the relationships between the various personalities have on the ability to get things done?Danny McConnell, political editor of the Irish Examiner spoke to the podcast about these and many other aspects of the new government in this special edition.

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JIM DALY: Looking in through the Out Door.

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 07:11:48 GMT

Junior minister for health Jim Daly took the road less travelled when he announced last September that he would not be contesting the next general election. He had watched his young family grow through the years when his job meant he was at the beck and call of constituents even when he wasn’t based in Leinster House. Now he wanted to grab what he could before the kids were all grown up.He talks about life as a TD from rural Ireland, what could be changed and what should not be changed. He also looked back over his time in the portfolio of mental health and elder people and revealed the only job that would ever have kept him in politics at this stage of his life.

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IS THAT A GOVERNMENT I SEE BEFORE ME?

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 06:54:03 GMT

All eyes are on the Green party this week as the three parties hoping to form a government consult internally on whether or not to go for it. The smart money says Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will ratify the proposed programme for government, but Green party leader Eamon Ryan has a much more difficult task.Dr Theresa Reidy, political scientist at UCC was this week’s guest on the podcast to discuss that, the wider political climate and where exactly politics is going today.

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WHERE HAVE ALL THE TOURISTS GONE

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 06:42:45 GMT

Summertime but the living ain’t easy this year if you’re in the tourism business. Those in some of the most beautiful parts of the country, particularly down the western seaboard, are facing into a season that is hugely curtailed. That in turn deprives thousands of the means to get through the long winter.John Fitzgerald, who is based on the Ring of Kerry and operates with his wife a seaweed tours business, talks to the podcast about how they and most of their community are hoping to salvage what they can from the curtailed season, some of which will be as a result of an expected boom in the staycation market.

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America’s Burning Issue.

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 06:00:37 GMT

In a week in which protests spread throughout the USA after the violent death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, the podcast’s guest is an Irish exile in Seattle, Gillian O’Connell.Gillian talks about how the events of the past week have awakened her to the reality of institutional racism in the country she had made her home for the last twenty five years. She believes that the recent events could well prompt real change this time and force the USA to confront its oldest problem. Interestingly, she sees that one leader in this respect could be corporate America.

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Ross Lewis: When will we eat again.

Thu, 28 May 2020 13:49:49 GMT

One of Ireland’s leading chefs Ross Lewis is the guest on this week’s podcast to discuss how the pandemic has affected the restaurant business and the hopes and fears in the sector about opening up again.He talks about how social distancing rules will impact on restaurants, the prospects for those working in the sector and the changes that can be expected in living and working habits and how that will effect eating out.He also gives an insight into the personal experience of turning the lights out on his business last March at the outset of the lockdown.

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MAURICE MCCABE: LIFE AFTER WHISTLEBLOWING

Fri, 22 May 2020 06:37:31 GMT

Maurice McCabe is this country's best known whistleblower following his reports of malpractice in An Garda Siochana where he was a sergeant with an exemplary record.Now, two years after his retirement, following a series of inquiries and a tribunal examining his claims and the reprisal he suffered, he has agreed to act as patron for the anti corruption body, Transparency International.He spoke to the podcast about how he’s getting on with life, how Transparency International helped him and what he does when whistleblowers from various walks of life show up at his front door.

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FIGHTING THE VIRUS IN DIRECT PROVISION

Fri, 15 May 2020 06:59:28 GMT

The spread of the corona virus has led to major problems in particular settings, one of which is direct provision centres. One centre that has experienced an outbreak is the recently opened Skellig Hotel in Cahirciveen. Nearly one hundred asylum seekers were transferred there from the Dublin area with 24 hours notice in March and now over a quarter of the residents are infected.The asylum seekers, local people and politicians have all called for it to be closed down. But why and in what circumstances was it opened, and what does it say about the direct provision system? Mick spoke to a local businessman Jack Fitzpatrick and Aswer, one of the residents of the centre.

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JOHN WAIN: When one size doesn’t fit all in locking down

Fri, 08 May 2020 05:48:14 GMT

While the western world has faced major upheaval in dealing with the pandemic, the developing world has a whole set of different, and largely more dangerous problems.John Wain, who hails from Cork, is currently based in the UN in Geneva but spends a lot of his time in the developing world, building shelters for refugees fleeing war, violence and famine. He joined Mick on the podcast to talk about the challenges faced in these regions and why in particular the lockdown solution may not be a good idea for the poorest countries in the world.

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EDDIE HOBBS: A NEW WORLD ORDER

Fri, 01 May 2020 05:42:32 GMT

Today’s guest on the podcast Eddie Hobbs has some strong opinions on how the country is going to come out of the current crisis, the role that the banks must play and the repeated failure in official circles to recognise the importance of small business. He talks about how we are facing into a New World Order in which “radical centralism” will be in vogue and political power will revert to the people in a manner not seen in decades. He also talks about the collapse of Brendan Investments, the vehicle of which he was the public face and how that and perceptions around it had a devastating impact on his reputation.

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ANNE RYAN: WHEN ENOUGH IS PLENTY

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 07:00:43 GMT

The public health emergency and lock down has for many people provided space to reflect on how we are living as a society. Are our priorities as they should be? How do we measure success? Is there a better, more sustainable way of living?Ten years ago university lecturer Anne Ryan attempted to answer some of these questions in a groundbreaking and prescient book, Enough Is Plenty. Anne is also a co-ordinator in the organisation, Basic Income Ireland, which advocates for a system of Universal Basic Income. On the podcast she explains her philosophy and where it has been put into practice with some encouraging results.

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ADAM HARRIS: AS HE IS

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 06:00:33 GMT

Adam Harris was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum at the age of five but by the time he was nineteen he had established the organisation ASIAM that today is the leading advocacy group for people with autism and their families. During the current health emergency people with autism have their own unique struggles and Adam spoke to the podcast about the challenges that are arising at this time. He also explained how he was given the opportunity to reach his full potential and how society today has made some advances in observing the human rights of people with autism yet there remains a lot more to be done.

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CATHERINE SHANAHAN: A PROFILE OF TONY HOLOHAN

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 06:28:26 GMT

One figure who has emerged in the current pandemic to provide reassurance about the direction of the country is Tony Holohan. The chief medical officer at the Department of Health has been a nightly figure on TV screens as he gives his daily press briefing about infections and, sadly, deaths.But who is this high profile doctor and civil servant and how did he arrive at his current station? This episode of the podcast attempts to answer these questions with the help of our guest, long time Irish Examiner health correspondent Catherine Shanahan. Catherine also gives her opinion on whether or not the recent subsuming of private healthcare into the public system can be sustained in the long run.

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KEEPING FEAR OF VIRUS IN PERSPECTIVE

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:15:25 GMT

The changes imposed by the onslaught of the corona virus have affected all areas of society but most particularly those who work in the healthcare system. Professor Ronan Collins is a consultant physician in geriatric and stroke medicine at Tallaght University Hospital. Since the outset of the crisis he has noticed a worrying trend among some people who are reluctant to contact health professionals even when they show worrying symptoms of conditions such as stroke.He spoke to the podcast about the responsibility that we all have to ensure that fears about the virus and its impact on hospitals does not discourage people from addressing their own urgent health concerns. He also spoke of his optimism that as a society we can come through this better and why, despite working in the public health system he believes we should not retain the current, temporary one tier model in health.

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Slow bicycle race to Government.

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 07:00:53 GMT

Nearly two months after the general election and in the midst of an existential crisis we still don’t have a government. Fianna Fail and Fine Gale are involved in talks that some suggest would make a slow bicycle race look at a Grand Prix event.So when will be have a government and if two of the three big parties do manage to come to an agreement, who else will go in with them? Joining Mick on the podcast to discuss these issues was Irish Examiner political editor Danny McConnell.

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LIVING AND DYING IN A TIME OF CORONAVIRUS.

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:55:56 GMT

Alison O’Connor has like many people been reflecting in recent weeks on the nature of life and death as the country endures what amounts to lockdown and the virus takes lives at an increasing rate. She talks to Mick Clifford for today’s podcast about how the bereaved at this time are being robbed of the rituals that constitute the comfort blanket that usually provides solace in days after a death. She reflects on the more mundane and even blackly humorous aspects to working from home and being in closer proximity than usual to our nearest and dearest and wonders how as a society we will have changed when it’s all over.

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HOLLY CAIRNS: A new politician for changed times

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 08:13:47 GMT

Against much expectation from pundits, Holly Cairns was elected as a TD for the Cork South West constituency in February’s general election. Her party the Social Democrats had virtually no presence in the constituency and the candidate had only last May been elected to Cork County Council for the first time. She is now the only female TD representing any of the Cork city or county constituencies.She spoke to Mick about the new Ireland she intends to work towards, combining farming and politics, and how soon after her election she was approached and offered sympathy for her new station as a politician’s wife! (Her partner, Christy O’Sullivan, is also a TD for the constituency).

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ENGINEERING TO SAVE LIVES FROM CORONA VIRUS

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 08:00:13 GMT

The onslaught of the Covid 19 virus is expected to put our hospital service under severe pressure. Among the biggest worries will be whether the system will be able to cater for all those who are worst affected by the virus, and particularly patients who will need assistance in breathing through ventilators.Throughout the world there is a shortage of ventilators to deal with this crisis and already in Italy doctors are being forced to choose who should have access to the life saving equipment. In this country, a number of different groups from engineering backgrounds are attempting to fast track the production of ventilators. One of these, the Covid Response Team, is attempting to design and build a “battlefield ventilator” in a matter of weeks. Mick spoke to the group’s founder, John Wallace who runs his own specialist engineering company.

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THE KILLING OF A LORD MAYOR

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:15:08 GMT

On 20 March 1920 a number of RIC men entered the home of Cork’s Lord Mayor Tomas McCurtain and shot him to death in front of his family. The killing was the first of a number of traumatic events in the city that year, including the death of hunger strike of McCurtain’s successor, Terence McSwiney and culminating with the burning of the city centre in December. The 100th anniversary of McCurtain’s death is being commemorated this week and the scheduled events – postponed due to the coronavirus – were to have been led by the current Lord Mayor, John Sheehan. He spoke to Mick about McCurtain’s life and legacy and the view of history a century down the line.

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Kieran McCarthy on his IRA past and Sinn Fein at present.

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:45:35 GMT

Kieran McCarthy is a former IRA member and a former Sinn Fein councillor. He left the party after a falling-out in 2015. Unlike others who have left he is largely in agreement with the Sinn Fein political project and is not a critic of the party, although his has some issues about how his time there came to an end. He spoke to the podcast about his past in the IRA, his belief that the campaign of violence was justified and about who is in control of the party’s principle policy – bringing about a united Ireland.

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NORMA COSTELLO WAR REPORTER

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 13:20:04 GMT

Norma Costello has been reporting from Iraq, Syria and Turkey for the last five years. The Kerrywoman was at one stage embedded with Kurdish fighters and she has reported on some of the most horrific human rights violations that have been perpetrated on the world stage in that period.She spoke to the podcast today about her experiences, why she feels the world isn't listening and how a couple of young students were radicalised in Galway and left to fight for ISIS.

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ROOTING OUT THE FAKE NEWS

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:55:53 GMT

This week's guest is Kerryman Donie O'Sullivan, who is the Disinformation, Technology and Politics correspondent for the American television network, CNN. His job entails rooting out the real 'fake news' on the internet as opposed to what Donald Trump describes as fake news. This involves attempting to track down who is spreading false information, particularly with a view to manipulating public opinion and impacting on the political system. Donie was employed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election when it emerged that false information from a number of sources, including Russia, had had an impact on the election of Donald Trump.

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DUNPHY ON THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 10:54:22 GMT

Eamon Dunphy has, over his lifetime, crossed the political spectrum from left to right and back again. On this week's podcast he assesses the current political impasse and what it means for the country. He recounts how he fell out with Sinn Fein some years ago after a spell during which he considered himself a supporter. And he also offers an opinion on whether we will get to the Euros this year and whither RTE's sports coverage without Joe Brolly.

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POET’S CORNER – THEO DORGAN ON SLOWLY UNFOLDING CHANGE

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:46:23 GMT

In the aftermath of the 2011 general election poet Theo Dorgan forecast that "it was an interim moment in a long, unfolding process of change…” that would take a few elections before a new kind of politics would emerge. After last week’s seismic general election results many now believe that we may be on the cusp of that new kind of politics. Theo Dorgan is this week’s guest on the podcast where he gave his views on what is unfolding and how we must learn from the past to see what is coming down the line.

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THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO GOVERNMENT

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:00:05 GMT

After the earthquake in last Saturday's election the country has been left with the prospect of a long drawn out dance before we arrive at a coherent government. The smart money is currently on Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail coming together and asking the Greens along to keep them company and to keep the peace. But is all of this idle speculation or is it simply the only way a government can be arrived at short of another general election. Discussing this and the rest of the fall-out from the general election with Mick is Danny McConnell, political editor of the Irish Examiner.

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HOW WAS THE CAMPAIGN FOR YOU?

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 11:32:25 GMT

The general election is finally upon us and the podcast is taking a look back at the campaign that was and a look ahead into the tea leaves to see how exactly the votes are going to fall. Joining Mick to discuss these issues and take a punt at shaping the next government are the Irish Examiner's political editor Danny McConnell and political correspondent Juno McEnroe.

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THE POLITICAL TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 16:43:42 GMT

Something is happening in this election, but do we know what it is?Mick Clifford asks Professor Gary Murphy of DCU to put in context the changes that appear to be taking place in our politics as Sinn Fein rises in the polls.Gary also puts this election in historical context, comparing it to the couple of similarly major shifts that have taken place in Irish politics since the foundation of the state.

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN DURING AN ELECTION

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:40:07 GMT

Are we there yet? As the general election campaign enters its final, crucial week the podcast hears from public affairs consultant and Irish Independent columnist Gerard Howlin. In a previous career Gerard was an advisor to successive Fianna Fail governments and he gives an insight into what it is like to be in the eye of the storm during a campaign.He also assesses why the climate change agenda has not featured prominently in the campaign and looks into his crystal ball to see the composition of the next government.

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BREAKING THE BACK OF THE CAMPAIGN

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 17:01:05 GMT

We're into the third week of the general election campaign, a crucial period for all those vying for your votes as people are now supposedly beginning to make up their minds. It's a busy week with debates, the last of the manifestos being launched and the requisite campaign controversy. Joining Mick to take the temperature of the campaign and assess who is most likely to make up the next government is Irish Examiner columnist and political commentator Alison O'Connor.

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ELECTION CAMPAIGN STUTTERING INTO LIFE

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 11:26:03 GMT

Hitting the halfway stage in the general election campaign and the early sorting out between the various sides has been completed. Opinion polls have been published and parsed, and the first leaders' debate between Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin has come and gone. So where does the campaign stand at this stage? Irish Examiner Political Editor Danny McConnell joined Mick to assess the current state of play.

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A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN CAMPAIGNING

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 17:23:37 GMT

The election campaign is now well underway and we have already had two opinion polls and a couple of controversies. A slew of policy papers have been launched, but not much in the way of costing. So what kind of condition are the parties in now heading into the second week? And what impact will the TV debates and manifesto launches over the coming week have on the parties? Mick was joined by Irish Examiner Political Editor Danny McConnell to run the rule over the campaign so far.

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WHAT SHOULD THIS ELECTION BE ABOUT?

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 11:18:48 GMT

The starting gun has sounded on the general election campaign. All parties are out of the blocks with promises and pledges but what should this election really be about? The economy is booming but many problems remain, many people feel they are being left behind. One man who has strong opinions on what the election should be about is Dr Sean Healy, director of Social Justice Ireland. He believes the fruits of the boom should be spent by creating a society that is more equal and focused on tackling the long term issues that threaten life as we know it. He spoke to Mick for this week's podcast.

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THE RIC HAVEN'T GONE AWAY, YOU KNOW

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 11:26:59 GMT

Is the past ever behind us? This week a major furore was kicked up over a planned commemoration for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police, both of which had operated in Ireland prior to Independence in 1922. The controversy ultimately prompted the government to cancel the commemoration.But what did the reaction to the proposal say about how society in the Republic of Ireland remembers the past and particularly the years of violent upheaval that led to the establishment of the state? Were the RIC as bad as they were painted on social media as the controversy raged? Should the police forces, made up largely of Irish recruits, be commemorated at all? What does all this say about the difficult centenary years the state is now facing into? And how much of the controversy was driven by uninformed comment and anger purveyed on social media?To explore these questions about then and now, Mick was joined by Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian and lecturer in gender studies in UCD.

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ALICE LEAHY: KEEPING WARM AT CHRISTMAS.

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 11:22:53 GMT

Christmas is a time of year to spend with family and friends but what of those who exist beyond the warm, fuzzy glow that permeates much of society during the season of goodwill?Alice Leahy has been working with people whom she categorises as Outsiders for over forty years. The Alice Leahy Trust provides a service for people who are without homes that primarily focuses on a personal touch and assistance with basic personal and medical needs. The drop-in centre she and her staff run in Dublin is a haven for many who either sleep on the streets or are obliged to leave overnight accommodation once the morning arrives.Alice talks to the Mick Clifford podcast this week about her philosophy of how everybody in society should be catered for according to their needs and how her life has been enriched through encounters with people who are often rendered invisible to much of society. She also opines on how much, or how little, has changed since she first established Trust in 1975.

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A WRONGED MAN?

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:37:58 GMT

Diarmuid Higgins got a call out of the blue last April telling him that an allegation of sexual abuse had been made against him as part of the garda investigation into Scouting Ireland. The Gardai have been conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse in the scouting body since last year. Among the allegations are a large number that date back decades.Mr Higgins was told a former scout had alleged that he had been abused by Mr Higgins and others on a scouting camp in 1978. The only problem was Mr Higgins had never been in the scouts at any stage of his life. He had never been on a scouting camp. He had never been in any troop. So how could somebody have targeted him in this manner? Why did the gardai contact him and tell him that he must make a statement on the matter? And what impact has all of this had on his life?Mick Clifford talked to Diarmuid Higgins who related some shocking details of what has befallen him.

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LONDON IRISH VOICES: Ray O'Rourke and Rory Godson

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 11:25:14 GMT

Ray O'Rourke is a native of Co Mayo who began work in London fifty years ago as a labourer and is today the chief executive and major shareholding on the UK's largest civil engineering company, Laing O'Rourke. He spoke to Mick Clifford about the effect that Brexit is having on business and his hopes and expectations of how Brexit will work out once the general election is over and a new parliament sitting.He also spoke of the importance of the relationship between Ireland and the UK and how that relationship will be vital to the trade negotiations between the EU and UK which will put a final shape on Brexit.Rory Godson is a native of Dublin who owns and runs Powerscourt, a strategic communications company in the City of London. He is also the chair of the British chapter of the Ireland Fund, which provides assistance to worthy causes in Ireland and among the Irish community abroad. He spoke about how Irish people and businesses in the UK were faring under the shadow of Brexit and who exactly will be picking up the tab after the general election and Brexit are out of the way.

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BEING IAN BAILEY

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 10:02:23 GMT

Ian Bailey is a wanted man. The French authorities have requested the Irish government to extradite him for the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Planter in December 1996. In May of this year a Paris court convicted him in absentia of murder and sentenced him to twenty five years in prison.The Irish DPP has repeatedly declined to bring charges against Mr Bailey on the basis of insufficient evidence. An analysis of the case in the DPP’s office, compiled in 2001, was highly critical of the garda investigation of the murder.So as things stand Mr Bailey is currently living in a form of suspension as he awaits a knock on the door, arrest and dispatch to the High Court for an extradition hearing. The period of turbulent in his life has also, he says, seen his creative side blossom. He has published a collection of poetry, I’m In A John Wayne State Of Mind, which deals to a great extent with the tribulations of his life. Mick Clifford met Ian Bailey at his home in West Cork.

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IS IRELAND STILL A WARM HOUSE FOR IMMIGRANTS?

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 11:04:49 GMT

Immigration has entered the political arena again this week with comments from Wexford by-election candidate Verona Murphy about asylum seekers. She suggested that some might need to be "reprogrammed" and that children as young as three could be manipulated by ISIS. Ms Murphy subsequently apologised for the comments.But are attitudes to immigrants, which for so long were perceived as being broadly welcoming, actually changing? And is the system of Direct Provision the best or most humane way to process asylum seekers, particularly in light of protests in various towns about proposed centres in recent months? This week Mick Clifford spoke to the chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Brian Killoran, who offered some unique insights into immigration, the plight of asylum seekers and the efforts of a small group within society to portray immigrants in the most negative light possible.

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THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 11:26:03 GMT

Journalist and broadcaster Alison O'Connor talks to Mick Clifford in this week's podcast about two stories that have dominated the news agenda for the last week and will continue to do so in one form or another long into the future.One element of the fall-out from the sentencing of two boys for the murder of Anna Kriegel that requires detailed analysis is the responsibility of parents to have hard, even awkward conversations with their teenage children about sex. With pornography available at the touch of a phone button, are teenage boys and girls being given a view of sex that is completely at odds with the real world and relationships. Alison talks about why parents are duty bound to have the hard conversations with their children.The other story that dominated the week was that of immigration following a storm in the Dail over a question raised by independent TD Noel Grealish. Are attitudes towards immigrants changing in this country and are some politicians prepared to exploit any changes for electoral gain?

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SHOULD DRUG ABUSE BE TREATED WITH AN URGENT RESPONSE?

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 11:11:45 GMT

Figures released this week by the Health Research Board point to a major increase in demand for drug treatment services. In particular treatment for cocaine abuse has rocketed in recent years. Much of this is being attributed to the economic recovery and corresponding so-called recreational drug use. The demand for treatment for the abuse of other drugs, particularly opiates and cannabis, is also increasing.So does all of this point towards a major drug problem in the country? And if so why and what exactly can be done about it? In this week's podcast we spoke to Michael Guerin, a senior therapist with the Cuan Mhuire treatment group. Michael has vast experience in the area and some very interesting insights into where exactly we are, how we got here, and how best to address what he believes to be a major health, social and economic problem.

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RISE AND FOLLOW MURPHY

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 11:25:21 GMT

Paul Murphy has been one of the most high profile TDs in the Dail over the last five years, during which time he and five of his party colleagues were tried and acquitted of the false imprisonment of former Tanaiste Joan Burton during a water charge protest in 2014.The socialist TD who has set up the new political entity Rise, talks to Mick Clifford about what he calls the new green deal, the fragmentation of the left and why he would not be interested in pursuing his aims in a coalition with an "establishment" party.He also sets out why he felt a new organisation was necessary at a time when climate justice is near the top of the political agenda. And why he has no regrets about the incident that led to his trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

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DREAMING OF THE BIGTIME

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 11:14:26 GMT

This week the podcast interviews Cork boxer Gary Spike O'Sullivan and his trainer, Packie Collins about the upcoming documentary The Prizefighter, based on Spike's shot at the world middleweight title last year. The Prizefighter was written and directed by acclaimed film maker Terry McMahon and provides a unique insight into Spike's journey which was driven by the dream of buying a home for his family. The Prizefighter has received rave reviews in the film festival circuit and was backed by Virgin Media, which will be screening it on TV in the coming months.

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RIGHTING THE WRONGS FROM WITHIN

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:28:57 GMT

The role of the whistleblower in exposing wrongdoing and corruption has come to the fore in recent years. The most prominent case was that of former garda sergeant, Maurice McCabe, but right across society, in the health service, public sector and the corporate world the whistleblower has been active, particularly since the introduction of the Protected Disclosure Act in 2014. Today Mick Clifford talks to John Devitt, chief executive of the anti-corruption agency, Transparency International Ireland about the role of the whistleblower in society, the protections in place for reporting wrongdoing and whether anything really changes when somebody comes forward.

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Lonely voice behind prison walls.

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:22:01 GMT

Last November David McDonald, an assistant chief officer in the prison service, made serious allegations of malpractice about what has gone on in the state's prisons. These included the illegal surveillance of prison officers and the manner in which deaths in custody were mishandled within the service.An inquiry ordered by the Minister for Justice found that most of his allegations had substance. Since he blew the whistle, ACO McDonald has, he claims, been targeted for ill treatment by management in the service. He talks to Mick Clifford about working in an elite unit of the prison service, why he decided to blow the whistle and why he feels that the prison service requires major reform.

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A sense of injustice that will never die.

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 10:50:49 GMT

A young couple died in a fire tragedy in 2002 but it would be fifteen years and another fire later before it was discovered that the building in which they died had serious defects.Louise Wall and Mick O'Farrell were found dead in their apartment in the newly built Verdemont complex in west Dublin by Louise's brother Shane. Questions were asked about how safe the building was but these questions, including some from the jury of a coroner's court, were never fully answered.In 2017 another fire resulted in the discovery of major fire safety defects in the construction. Louise's mother Margaret Wall and Margaret's husband Richard Brady spoke to the podcast about the tragedy, their sense of injustice and the further tragedy of Shane's death that they attribute to the trauma he suffered after discovering his sister's body.They also talk about whether there would be a different reaction to a fatal fire today in light of all we now know about building practices from the Celtic Tiger years.

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A Hard Rain's already falling.

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:27:13 GMT

The environmental group Extinction Rebellion have lost faith in the willingness of government and or the capacity of conventional governments to tackle climate change. On October 7 the Irish chapter of the group intends to bring the centre of Dublin to a standstill for a week as part of a campaign of civil disobedience in capital cities across the world. The group is demanding immediate action to eliminate carbon emissions and, as they see it, tell the public the truth about a planet in the grip of devastating climate change. Paul McCormack Cooney, a member of Extinction Rebellion, spoke to the podcast about the group's philosophy, tactics, attitude to democracy and why he, a middle aged father of two, got involved in a rebellion.

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From the dark end of the street

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 15:52:13 GMT

Gerard Mannix Flynn is a survivor of Ireland's industrial school system, a renowned performing artist and writer, and, for the last decade, a Dublin City councillor.Next month his autobiographical film Land Without God goes on release. The film comes twenty years after his groundbreaking theatrical production, James X.He spoke to the podcast about his early life, his struggles with and recovery from addiction, and his politics.

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No Country For Old Men

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 10:37:09 GMT

Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff arrived in Ireland from the USA last March intent on a brief visit to support friends protesting against the US military using Shannon Airport. They were arrested and now face a trial for criminal damage. Their passports have been confiscated and they are confined to this country until their trial. They spoke to the Mick Clifford podcast about lives of activism, their families back home and how they have survived since arriving in the country.

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Mr Brexit Goes To Westminister.

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 11:00:51 GMT

The Mick Clifford Podcast 06/09/2019Mr Brexit Goes To Westminister.In a tumultuous week in UK politics, in which the government lost control of its Brexit agenda, we profile Boris Johnson. From Oxford scholarship boy to journalist who invented stories about ludicrous laws and mores in Europe, on to Mayor of London and finally to the job that he had coveted since childhood.In his first full week in Westminister, he managed to lose crucial votes, his working majority and over twenty long standing party MPs. Is the only way up from here?

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