The Mick Clifford Podcast

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, w...

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...

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. Hosted on Acast. See a...

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 ru...

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...

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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

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...

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 th...

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 writte...

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 explo...

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...

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 de...

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...

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...

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 i...

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 av...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

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

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 to...

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...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acas...

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....

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 cr...

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...