The Mick Clifford Podcast

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.