The Mick Clifford Podcast

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...

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 t...

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 tour...

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 believe...

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...

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 t...

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...

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...

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 peo...

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...

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 ti...

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 e...

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 professional...

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 th...

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....

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....

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 alrea...

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...

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...

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...

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 o...

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 a...

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 h...

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...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...