The Mick Clifford Podcast

Writer Donal Ryan talk to Mick Clifford about his latest book.

It’s no exaggeration to say the last fortnight in Irish sport has been among the best and most successful we’ve ever seen. We’ve had four Olympic gold medals across four separate sports, and a few bronze to go along with it. And there may yet be more to come. The events in Paris have captured the imagination back home on what has been the country’s best ever Olympic games. But what it all down to? And is something we can replicate in four years’ time in Los Angeles and beyond? The Irish Examiner's senior sports writer Maurice Brosnan is in Paris, and sits down to chat about all things Team Ireland. 

In the space of just a few weeks, the race for the White House has been turned on its head.  It’s now Kamala Harris who will take on Donald Trump in November’s US Presidential election, presenting a very different rival for the presidency than Joe Biden would have. She’s fundraising in huge numbers and gaining on Trump in many polls, while Trump is facing sharp criticism for his remarks about Harris at an event on Wednesday 31st July. With things still all to play for, we talk to Larry Donnelly, a Boston attorney, Law Lecturer at the University of Galway, columnist and commentator, to discuss the latest developments.  

Martin McGuinness assured Rose Hegarty repeatedly that her son Frank would be unharmed if he returned to Derry. Rose believed him and Frank came back. It was a fateful decision and that fate is explored in a new book about spies in the North during the Troubles. Four Shots in the Night examines the Hegarty case and puts it in the context of the intelligence war that played a vital role in bringing the violence to an end. Author Henry Hemming is this week’s guest on the podcast.

A tumultuous week in US politics saw an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and his subsequent victory march through the Republican party’s convention in which the party threw itself at his feet. Meanwhile, Joe Biden candidacy continues to raise doubts. Professor Scott Lucas of the Clinton Institute in UCD looks back at the week and forward towards a hugely significant election for the next president of the USA.

The UK elections has delivered a hammer blow to the Tories after fourteen years in power. Kier Starmer is the new British Prime Minister but what needs to change and what will change. Also, what will the result mean for Northern Ireland after the DUP suffer further losses and Sinn Fein marches on? Author and columnist Seamas O’Reilly is this week’s guest to take over the embers of the elections.   

Bertie Ahern, Roy Keane, the Saipan controversy and the great Tommie Gorman.

The recent successes of Irish athletes in the European championships have nicely teed up the forthcoming Olympics for most sports fans. Rashida Adeleke and Ciara Mageean among others have done the country proud. But is the success that they and others are enjoying a result of a the kind of well funded, structured system that exists in comparable countries, or is it in spite of the approach of the government that these athletes are showing their world class ability. Former athlete and sports journalist Cathal Dennehy has assembled strong evidence that it is the latter. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.