The Mick Clifford Podcast

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 nationali...

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...

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...

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 th...

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...

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, chair...

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. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

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 o...

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 dis...

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 extrem...

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...

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 b...

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 suppo...

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...

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 i...

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 Canad...

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 lectur...

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 school...

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 s...

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 exc...

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 v...

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...

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 h...

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...

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 t...