The Mick Clifford Podcast

A new coffee table book, written by Eoin Ó Broin and illustrated with the photographs of Mal McCann, looks at the public housing schemes designed by acclaimed architect Herbert Sims in the early decades of the state and the people who now live in them. Flats And Cottages – Herbert Sims and the Housing of Dublin’s Working Class 1932-48 works as both a history of architecture and a social history of a changing city. But who was Herbert Sims and what can we learn from him and the times he worked in that can be applied to today’s housing crisis? Eoin Ó Broin is this week’s guest on the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The start of the year, as in then, dawned full of hope and vim for a new government after the election in November 2024. Now, at the end of the year, we examine where the hope and plans ended up. The last twelve months hasn’t progressed like that and some might say that in general things have regressed a bit. But what has the political year really been like. Joining the podcast to discuss the year that was are Paul Hosford and Louise Burne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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

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