The Mick Clifford Podcast

Next Wednesday marks the 100th day in office for President Donald Trump, in this his second term. It differs greatly from his first, but more than that he has rushed to reshape the world, both within and without US borders. So how is he doing, will he succeed and is there any interest in stopping him bringing the US, and by extension the world, into a new reality. Scott Lucas, professor of US politics in UCD is this week’s guest.

In the midst of a housing crisis this state also has a large cohort of derelict or unused buildings. Some enlightened thinking and political willpower could use this resource to hugely positive effect but despite this there is still a way to go, particularly at official level. Judge Sherry and Frank O’Connor who run their design consulancy Anois have tracked this problem for four years and are now attempting to point a way forward towards solutions. Jude and Frank are this week’s guests on the podcast.

In 1983, Brian Stack, the chief officer in Portlaoise Prison, was shot and fatally wounded after leaving an event in Dublin. The Provisional IRA were long suspected of this attack but for many years, the organization denied any responsibility. Austin Stack was a young boy when his family’s life was changed forever and in adulthood he and his brothers began a long journey to get justice for their father. He has now written a book about that journey. Austin Stack is this week’s guest on the podcast.

Donald Trump has introduced the centrepiece of his electoral platform, global tariffs. On what he described as Liberation Day he produced a typical showbusiness background to the announcements that may well upend the whole nature of global trading. So what will it mean for this country, how we have been governed and how the country has developed over the last thirty years. Joining the podcast is Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin. 

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?