The Mick Clifford Podcast

The coalition government, awash with cash and bereft of a core political compass, appears to be governing by the path of least resistance. The Irish Examiner’s Political Editor Elaine Loughlin recently outlined in a column how the government is now content to sort out those who shout loudest irrespective of the damage that might do to the country’s long term health.

Elaine is this week’s guest on the podcast.
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The Government says Ireland needs to build faster. To do that it is preparing legislation that could allow major infrastructure projects to bypass parts of the planning system. At the same time, a major review of local democracy wants to hand more power to councillors and reduce the dominance of unelected council executives.
So are politicians taking back control, or are they concentrating power in different ways? Will these reforms speed up the delivery of housing, transport and public services? And what happens when national priorities collide with local democracy? Irish Examiner political reporter Tadgh McNally joins guest host Eoghan O'Sullivan to discuss two major reforms that could reshape how Ireland is governed and how decisions are made.

Article:
Local authority 'mini cabinets' to give more powers to councillors: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41883649.html
Government plans emergency laws to fast-track major infrastructure projects: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41885329.html
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The running of agents in the North by the British state was a moral maze. Those who were in charge of the agents often had to decide whether or not to allow a murder go ahead in order to protect an agent’s cover. But where is the morality in such decisions? Did a point arrive where the state ceded the moral high ground to groups like the IRA which were killing at will?
Veteran reporter John Ware’s new book is entitled Neither Confirm Nor Deny – British Intelligence, lawless agent running and the suppression of truth. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.
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As the World Cup comes to a conclusion we look back on a month of football to celebrate the best of it but also to ask where exactly the game is going and whether it is irredeemable corrupt. And beyond that, do we care if we keep watching it which is exactly what everybody did. Joining Mick to discuss all this is Irish Examiner columnist Colin Sheridan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last month a defence forces tribunal, that was over two decades in the making, has been hearing shocking evidence about how some officers conducted themselves. Allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse have called to mind the kind of army life that might have existed in a colonial force from the nineteenth century. The Irish Examiner’s Neil Michael has been reporting on the evidence and he is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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