The Mick Clifford Podcast Irish Examiner

The fiftieth anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings falls on 17 May. Thirty four people died in the four bombings in what was the worst tragedy in the state since the Civil War. Families were marked for life by the killings but beyond the human tragedy there was also a state scandal associated with the day. Over the years it has emerged that both the Irish and British governments of the day showed no interest in investigating the crime and bringing perpetrators to justice. Retired senior garda John O’Brien has written a book about the case, focusing on the political and policing elements in the aftermath and why there appeared to be a lack of willingness to find out who had bombed Dublin and Monaghan. John O’Brien is this week guest.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new study into how teenage boys are drawn down rabbit holes online to content that is misogynistic and possibly have a traumatic impact on their development was published recently by DCU. The research shows that social media companies are now drawing teenagers towards influencers who are spreading all manner of negative material simply to make money. What can be done about it by regulators, parents and society in general? And what will the impact be for tomorrow’s adult males. Professor Debbie Ging from DCU’s anti bullying centre is this week’s guest.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the most tragic figures from the revolutionary period was Roger Casement, global humanitarian, Irish rebel, hung as a traitor. A new biography Broken Archangel – The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement provides a fascinating account of this complex figure and the times he lived in. It also answers definitively the questions around whether his diaries, used to blacken his name ahead of his execution, were forged. The book’s author, Ronald Phillips is this week’s guest on the podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After forty three years the families of the forty eight young people who died in the Stardust fire in Dublin in February 1981 have finally received a form of justice. The longest running inquest in the history of the state returned a verdict of unlawful killing in all forty eight deaths. How did it get here, what did the inquest here and where can it go from here. The Irish Examiner’s Sean Murray has been following this story most of his career and he is this week’s guest on the podcast. 
 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Lynn is currently serving a prison sentence for crimes of fraud committed at the height of the Celtic Tiger years in this country. A solicitor by training, he conned banks out of tens of millions of euro, went on the run and ended up in Brazil where his wife gave birth to their first child. He thought that would save him from extradition but it didn’t. All the time his trail was being followed by investigative reporter Michael O’Farrell, who has now written a book, Fugitive, the Michael Lynn story. The book reads like a thriller and Michael is this week’s guest on the podcast. 
 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have long since developed in a nation of foodies in this country in terms of the range of foodies that people enjoy and how it is consumed. But what of our food system? How far now is the journey from farm to fork? Why do we no longer, for the greater part, know the precise distance and route taken by the food we buy? And why is this country that projects itself as a top class food producer, importing so much. Irish Examiner Food Writer Joe McNamee answers these questions and much more in a fascinating tour of our current food system.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.