The Mick Clifford Podcast

Over 12 million people have been displaced from a civil war in Sudan that started in 2023 and continues. Around 1 million of those displaced are now refugees in neighbouring South Sudan, living in extremely difficult conditions, including without clean water and attempting to survive in one of the poorest corners of the world where climate change is now having a devastating impact. The Irish Examiner’s Niamh Griffin recently visited one of the refugee camps and reported on a forgotten war far from the international focus and cameras. Niamh is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Ian Kilroy is a journalist and lecturer in his day job but he is also a Zen Buddhist priest who has written a book that is already proving highly popular. Do Not Try To Become A Buddha examines zen teachings and practice but is main narrative is rooted in Ian’s own personal journey. He talks to the podcast about what brought him from a Galway childhood to Buddhism and from there onto a point where he is now teacher, but not, he is keen to emphasis, a guru. Ian Kilroy is this week’s guest.

The country heaved a sigh of relief this week when Micheal Martin’s meeting with Donald Trump went off without a hitch. The potential for a disaster or two was nervously discussed before the meeting but the wily Corkman survived. That’s one view. Another is that he just kept the head down and dodged what some might have considered his duty to discuss with current incumbent in the White House. So how did it really go? Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin was in the Oval Office and even managed to fire a question at President Trump...

Providing an education for all children should be a basic duty of the state. Yet, for some reason, it doesn’t happen in this country. Every year there are children with special needs who can’t access either a place in a special school or a place in a special class in mainstream education. Why, in a country as allegedly developed as this, have we not been able to get this basic duty right. Rebecca Meehan, a mother of a child with additional needs, and Irish Examiner Education Correspondent Jess Casey join the podcast.

Tralee-based businessman Nathan McDonnell was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a transglobal drug smuggling operation involving a notorious Mexican drug cartel. How did it ever come to this and what exactly is the connection in Kerry that saw the drugs being stored in a premises outside Tralee, en route from South America to Australia?

The third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine fell this week, at a time when Donald Trump has moved to completely realign the USA in the war. So what does this mean for a country under siege and now apparently sandwiched between the autocratic Putin and apparent wannabe Putin, Trump. Irish Examiner security correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Donald Trump has declared a war on woke which has been music to the ears of many, most particularly those of a far-right viewpoint. But what does it mean? And why is any such war required or to be welcomed and how does it feed into the basic strands of a far-right agenda. Writer and Irish Examiner columnist Seamas O’Reilly has been mulling over such issues in recent weeks. Seamas is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Prison overcrowding has become a serious problem, with prisoners sleeping on mattresses and dangerous conditions prevailing. So is it time to ramp up efforts to find an alternative to prison, particularly for those who are sentenced to a year or less. The Irish Penal Reform Trust has done extensive research into offending, sentences and conditions in prison and have produced submissions and proposals, some of which feature in the new programme for government. The IPRT’s executive director Saoirse Brady is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Niall Muldoon is the ombudsman for children. His role gives him a perfect view into the problems that afflict the lives of children, right across society, down along the socio economic ladder, but particularly for those who are most vulnerable. He shared some very interesting insights into child poverty, issues around education and whether his office has enough powers to effect change.