The Mick Clifford Podcast

Dunnes Stores is one of the most famous brands in the country with one in every five shopping euros spent in one of their outlets. But what of the family behind the brand? Many people would have been familiar with the late Ben Dunne, a larger than life character, but what lay behind the character and what of the other big personalities in the family, from Ben Snr down. Matt Cooper has written Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the heart of Dunnes Stores. Matt is this week’s guest on the podcast.

This week the government introduced new rules in relation to immigration, principally directed at asylum seekers. Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he is responding to a scenario in which this country has had a rapid increase in population. But is that the case, and is any such rise down to the number of people seeing asylum? Professor Ciara Symth, an expert in immigration law in UCG explores the facts, the myths and some of the lies that is now informing the public mood in this area.

Comments by billionaire Denis O’Brien that some young people now feel entitled and that there is a decline in work ethic among the young have received much negative reaction. However, one voice that says O’Brien was talking sense is political scientist Eoin O’Malley, who is an associate professor in DCU. O’Malley, through his work has experience of the problems and foibles of young people emerging from education today. And he has strong opinions on whether remote working is actually working. Eoin is this week’s guest on the podcast. 

This week, after 14 years in office, Michael D Higgins left Áras an Uachtaran for the last time and Catherine Connolly was sworn in as the 10th President of Ireland. In her inauguration speech, she said that the president should be “a unifying presence—a steady hand, but also a catalyst for change”. Irish Examiner deputy political editor Paul Hosford joins the podcast to give us the details as Ms Connolly aims to hit the ground running as she takes the reins.  

DJ Carey has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for defrauding at least ten people out of various sums on money on the false premise that he was suffering from cancer. Carey was hurling’s first superstar whose exploits on the pitch thrilled the whole country. How did it all go wrong? What prompted him to head down the dark alley that led to imprisonment for the most grievous kind of deception? Eimear Ni Bhraonain’s new book The Dodger gives insight and detail in response to those questions. Eimear is today’s guest on the podcast. 

Political communication was brought to a fine art by Terry Prone, her late husband Tom Savage and their mentor Bunny Carr. Their work was done and felt behind the scenes of successive governments and among numerous politicians. Now Terry is telling all in her memoir from the political years, which includes a whole raft of narratives about how some major figures in Irish politics coped at times of crisis and challenges.   Her book is entitled “I’m glad you asked me that”, a phrase she insists she has never, nor ever would, tell a client to issue. Terry Prone is this week’s guest on the podcast. 

The GAA has deep roots right across Irish society, culture and the economy. On one level it has never been as popular but often threats lurk at the time when the sun is shining. The Irish Examiner’s Michael Moynihan has spent much of his career tracking progress in the GAA and now he has produced a book that looks at the future, the hopes, the dreams and the threats that are being posed. Michael is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Against the odds, Donald Trump has managed, at least temporarily, to stop the bombing and slaughter in Gaza. He has brokered a twenty point peace plan that could potentially ensure both peace and justice in an area that has been devastated. But will it work? And does Trump have the patience and political interest in ensuring that the long hard slog is as successful as the photo opportunities he availed of this week. Professor Scott Lucas from the Clinton Institute in UCD joins the podcast.