The Mick Clifford Podcast

We're into the third week of the general election campaign, a crucial period for all those vying for your votes as people are now supposedly beginning to make up their minds. It's a busy week with debates, the last of the manifestos being launched and the requisite campaign controversy. Joining Mick to take the temperature of the campaign and assess who is most likely to make up the next government is Irish Examiner columnist and political commentator Alison O'Connor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hitting the halfway stage in the general election campaign and the early sorting out between the various sides has been completed. Opinion polls have been published and parsed, and the first leaders' debate between Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin has come and gone. So where does the campaign stand at this stage? Irish Examiner Political Editor Danny McConnell joined Mick to assess the current state of play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The election campaign is now well underway and we have already had two opinion polls and a couple of controversies. A slew of policy papers have been launched, but not much in the way of costing. So what kind of condition are the parties in now heading into the second week? And what impact will the TV debates and manifesto launches over the coming week have on the parties? Mick was joined by Irish Examiner Political Editor Danny McConnell to run the rule over the campaign so far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The starting gun has sounded on the general election campaign. All parties are out of the blocks with promises and pledges but what should this election really be about? The economy is booming but many problems remain, many people feel they are being left behind. One man who has strong opinions on what the election should be about is Dr Sean Healy, director of Social Justice Ireland. He believes the fruits of the boom should be spent by creating a society that is more equal and focused on tackling the long term issues that threaten life as we know it. He spoke to Mick for this week's podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the past ever behind us? This week a major furore was kicked up over a planned commemoration for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police, both of which had operated in Ireland prior to Independence in 1922. The controversy ultimately prompted the government to cancel the commemoration.But what did the reaction to the proposal say about how society in the Republic of Ireland remembers the past and particularly the years of violent upheaval that led to the establishment of the state? Were the RIC as bad as they were painted on social media as the controversy raged? Should the police forces, made up largely of Irish recruits, be commemorated at all? What does all this say about the difficult centenary years the state is now facing into? And how much of the controversy was driven by uninformed comment and anger purveyed on social media?To explore these questions about then and now, Mick was joined by Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian and lecturer in gender studies in UCD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christmas is a time of year to spend with family and friends but what of those who exist beyond the warm, fuzzy glow that permeates much of society during the season of goodwill?Alice Leahy has been working with people whom she categorises as Outsiders for over forty years. The Alice Leahy Trust provides a service for people who are without homes that primarily focuses on a personal touch and assistance with basic personal and medical needs. The drop-in centre she and her staff run in Dublin is a haven for many who either sleep on the streets or are obliged to leave overnight accommodation once the morning arrives.Alice talks to the Mick Clifford podcast this week about her philosophy of how everybody in society should be catered for according to their needs and how her life has been enriched through encounters with people who are often rendered invisible to much of society. She also opines on how much, or how little, has changed since she first established Trust in 1975. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diarmuid Higgins got a call out of the blue last April telling him that an allegation of sexual abuse had been made against him as part of the garda investigation into Scouting Ireland. The Gardai have been conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse in the scouting body since last year. Among the allegations are a large number that date back decades.Mr Higgins was told a former scout had alleged that he had been abused by Mr Higgins and others on a scouting camp in 1978. The only problem was Mr Higgins had never been in the scouts at any stage of his life. He had never been on a scouting camp. He had never been in any troop. So how could somebody have targeted him in this manner? Why did the gardai contact him and tell him that he must make a statement on the matter? And what impact has all of this had on his life?Mick Clifford talked to Diarmuid Higgins who related some shocking details of what has befallen him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ray O'Rourke is a native of Co Mayo who began work in London fifty years ago as a labourer and is today the chief executive and major shareholding on the UK's largest civil engineering company, Laing O'Rourke. He spoke to Mick Clifford about the effect that Brexit is having on business and his hopes and expectations of how Brexit will work out once the general election is over and a new parliament sitting.He also spoke of the importance of the relationship between Ireland and the UK and how that relationship will be vital to the trade negotiations between the EU and UK which will put a final shape on Brexit.Rory Godson is a native of Dublin who owns and runs Powerscourt, a strategic communications company in the City of London. He is also the chair of the British chapter of the Ireland Fund, which provides assistance to worthy causes in Ireland and among the Irish community abroad. He spoke about how Irish people and businesses in the UK were faring under the shadow of Brexit and who exactly will be picking up the tab after the general election and Brexit are out of the way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Bailey is a wanted man. The French authorities have requested the Irish government to extradite him for the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Planter in December 1996. In May of this year a Paris court convicted him in absentia of murder and sentenced him to twenty five years in prison.The Irish DPP has repeatedly declined to bring charges against Mr Bailey on the basis of insufficient evidence. An analysis of the case in the DPP’s office, compiled in 2001, was highly critical of the garda investigation of the murder.So as things stand Mr Bailey is currently living in a form of suspension as he awaits a knock on the door, arrest and dispatch to the High Court for an extradition hearing. The period of turbulent in his life has also, he says, seen his creative side blossom. He has published a collection of poetry, I’m In A John Wayne State Of Mind, which deals to a great extent with the tribulations of his life. Mick Clifford met Ian Bailey at his home in West Cork. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Immigration has entered the political arena again this week with comments from Wexford by-election candidate Verona Murphy about asylum seekers. She suggested that some might need to be "reprogrammed" and that children as young as three could be manipulated by ISIS. Ms Murphy subsequently apologised for the comments.But are attitudes to immigrants, which for so long were perceived as being broadly welcoming, actually changing? And is the system of Direct Provision the best or most humane way to process asylum seekers, particularly in light of protests in various towns about proposed centres in recent months? This week Mick Clifford spoke to the chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Brian Killoran, who offered some unique insights into immigration, the plight of asylum seekers and the efforts of a small group within society to portray immigrants in the most negative light possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.