The Mick Clifford Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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