The debates on the Anglo Irish Treaty which took place in December 1921 into January 1922 were historic and tragic, leading ultimately to the Civil War. Poet Theo Dorgan adapted the debates for Anu Productions which staged a ten hour production over four nights and was ultimately streamed on RTE last Saturday, the centenary of the vote on the treaty. The result is enthralling and profoundly sad in light of what was to unfold in the following months. Theo Dorgan speaks about what he learned from working on the material, how the men and women of the day were brought to life and what exactly is this Republic about which they argued.

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Prominent members of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael harbouring escaped IRA men, kidnappings replacing armed robberies, gardai saluting IRA funerals, agricultural grants used to build sheds for storing bombs, a plan to flood the economy with counterfeit £10 notes. Those were just some of the incidents and activities in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s while a violent conflict was taking place just north of the border. So how much support was there for the Provos in the south and what form did it take. Gearoid O Faolean has written a new book about what exactly went on and some of the revelations are surprising, with one of two jaw dropping. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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This month one hundred years ago the civil war reached its nadir with some horrific outrages in Co Kerry. Combatants on both sides died in terrible circumstances, including the outrage at Ballyseedy where nine men were tied around a mine and blown up. Miraculously one, Stephen Fuller, survived. This week's podcast guest is Historian Owen O’Shea, he looks back on those violent weeks and the subsequent fall out that resonated down through the generations. He also examines how exactly the past is being remembered today.

Neither political party which grew out of the civil war “covered themselves in glory” in how they treated those who were injured and damaged during the conflict, according to historian Owen O’Shea.

During the first decade of the state’s existence between 1922 an 1932 the Cumann na nGeadheal government was extremely parsimonious in compensating those who had fought on the free state side, and completely dismissive of anti-treaty veterans.

“Many were begging and begging in pension applications for some financial support,” O’Shea tells the Mick Clifford podcast. “They were battling mental health, financial troubles, breakdowns and immigration and the free state did very little in the first decade of its existence to support those who went out to fight for the state. Neither (political) party on the two sides of the conflict could claim they covered themselves in glory in that respect.”

The centenary of the Ballyseedy massacre, in which eight anti-treaty prisoners were blown up on a lonely road outside Tralee falls on March 7.

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Protests against asylum seekers and refugees in recent weeks have given rise to the possibility that the far right may be in a position to enter the political arena in the near future. Throughout Europe, far right parties have been gaining strength over the last twenty years on a broad anti-immigration platform. That has not happened in this country but is it about to change?

Political academic and MD of research company Ireland Thinks Kevin Cunningham crunches the poll numbers and looks at the trends in Europe over the years for signs of what might be about to unfold here. He also asks the question whether the salience of immigration to the electorate can be reversed once it becomes an issue. 

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