The Mick Clifford Podcast

Donald Trump is visiting the country this weekend and it’s safe to say that many people, from the upper echelons of power down to the man and woman in the street, would prefer if he stayed home. He is here to attend the...

What would a united Ireland look like? Could we come up with imaginative solutions that would only cheese off everybody equally? Paul Howard, the creator of Ross O’Carroll Kelly has written a satirical novel set in a...

The Dail has been recalled to delay the restoration of excise taxes in order to keep down the price of fuel. But is he government acting simply out of fear of a repeat of the fuel protests earlier this year? And what...

Democracy is under threat right across the world, certainly in the liberal form that persisted since the end of the Second world war. Donald Trump is leading the charge for a new form of populism and his administration...

It hasn’t been a smooth ride since John Moran was elected Mayor of Limerick, the first such office to be created in a city in the state. He has clashed on a number of occasions with councillors and most recently there...

The coalition government, awash with cash and bereft of a core political compass, appears to be governing by the path of least resistance. The Irish Examiner’s Political Editor Elaine Loughlin recently outlined in a...

The Government says Ireland needs to build faster. To do that it is preparing legislation that could allow major infrastructure projects to bypass parts of the planning system. At the same time, a major review of local...

The running of agents in the North by the British state was a moral maze. Those who were in charge of the agents often had to decide whether or not to allow a murder go ahead in order to protect an agent’s cover. But...

As the World Cup comes to a conclusion we look back on a month of football to celebrate the best of it but also to ask where exactly the game is going and whether it is irredeemable corrupt. And beyond that, do we care...

For the last month a defence forces tribunal, that was over two decades in the making, has been hearing shocking evidence about how some officers conducted themselves. Allegations of sexual, physical and psychological...

As America celebrates 250 years in existence as a nation, Marion McKeone looks at a country that is currently going through major upheaval with Donald Trump as president.  Is America as we have known it coming to...

With Andy Burnham all but certain to be the next British prime minister in the coming days, we talk to Fergus Finlay about what he can expect and what he should try to do. Fergus, who was an advisor to two governments...

Exactly ten years ago this week the UK voted to leave the EU and Brexit was born. At the time there were predictions that this could spell economic disaster for this country but that didn’t come to pass. The UK itself...

After the recent row between the Minister for Health and the Rotunda Hospital over consultants doing private work, a question arises as to how soon we will have a single tier health service. The move in that direction...

The Occupied Territories Bill and the triple lock are going to be landing hot and heavy in the public square in the coming months. Both issues elicit deeply felt emotions and questions over what is this state’s role in...