{"id":100807,"date":"2025-10-03T08:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/100807\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T08:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:37:08","slug":"kieran-cuddihy-hosts-a-zinger-of-a-presidential-debate-just-not-the-one-you-saw-on-tv-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/100807\/","title":{"rendered":"Kieran Cuddihy hosts a zinger of a presidential debate. Just not the one you saw on TV \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As audiences can attest, it\u2019s a zinger of a presidential debate, with Kieran Cuddihy<\/a>, its moderator, kept busy by opinionated parties swapping testy arguments and contentious claims. <\/p>\n

At the very least, Tuesday\u2019s exchanges about the \u00c1ras election on The Hard Shoulder <\/b>(Newstalk, weekdays) are far livelier than the underwhelming affair<\/a> Cuddihy hosts on Virgin Media TV the night before, when the three presidential candidates<\/a> meet in a lacklustre encounter. <\/p>\n

For whatever Cuddihy\u2019s radio discussion with the businessman Declan Ganley and Senator Gerard Craughwell may lack in nuance and policy, it makes up for in combativeness and controversy.<\/p>\n

Ganley, following the unsuccessful presidential bid of his fellow conservative activist Maria Steen<\/a>, urges would-be supporters to spoil their votes in protest at the supposed political uniformity of the \u201ccurated set of candidates\u201d. Writing Steen\u2019s name on the ballot paper or highlighting an issue such as, um, \u201cuncontrolled immigration\u201d is, he suggests, a \u201cvalid democratic option\u201d. <\/p>\n

Craughwell isn\u2019t unsympathetic, agreeing that a cohort of the population may well feel unrepresented by the final field of candidates. But the Senator also emphasises that the three contenders are \u201cdemocratically selected\u201d; spoiling votes, he says, is a wasted exercise.<\/p>\n

The mood turns snappier when Ganley claims all the presidential runners voted yes in last year\u2019s defeated family referendum. \u201cJim Gavin<\/a> said he voted no,\u201d Cuddihy points out. \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence he voted no,\u201d Ganley replies, \u201cI want proof.\u201d <\/p>\n

As the host attempts to explain the near-impossibility of such proof \u2013 Ganley seems to forget the concept of the secret ballot \u2013 his guest grows ever more indignant, his strident delivery increasingly resembling that of someone addressing a crowd through a loud hailer. But Cuddihy, exasperated, is having none of it: \u201cThis is utter nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding Steen\u2019s failed bid, Ganley talks of a \u201cconcerted effort\u201d to block the run of a \u201csmall-c conservative\u201d candidate. (One can only speculate what might constitute a capital-C version.) Craughwell, however, reveals he was only canvassed by Steen\u2019s campaign three days before nominations closed, by WhatsApp message. <\/p>\n

Hearing this, the host strikes an incredulous note. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like the establishment circling the wagons,\u201d he ventures, \u201cit sounds like ineptitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever it is, it isn\u2019t dull. True, the limitations of the presidential-nomination process go unexamined amid the diverting argy-bargy, but it\u2019s still an enjoyably chunky item. <\/p>\n

Cuddihy plays his part: though clearly bemused by some of the more provocative assertions, he doesn\u2019t fall out with his guests, preferring to keep things on track. <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s hard to keep up that level of energy \u2013 and, sure enough, the rest of the show is calmer: though the host goes on to interview several more politicians, actual politics largely take a back seat.<\/p>\n

So the former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon talks about her new memoir \u2013 the hot-button issue of transgender women in female prisons, which upended her tenure, is covered in admirably unsensational form \u2013 while the Green Party councillor Hazel Chu talks about her breast-cancer diagnosis<\/a> in darkly humorous terms. \u201cThey squeeze the bejaysus out of your breast,\u201d she recalls, adding: \u201cI\u2019m sorry to be so descriptive.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Hazel Chu on her cancer diagnosis: \u2018I came out of the scan, sat in reception and cried\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

And as if to prove that he\u2019s as adept at mocking the left as the right, he teases Ivana Bacik, the Labour leader, about her politics. <\/p>\n

Appearing on the regular Bookshelf segment, Bacik avidly praises The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell\u2019s seminal novel of socialist realism, recalling how it informed her worldview as an undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin: \u201cI was a classic lefty student in the 1980s,\u201d she says. \u201cAll students are lefties,\u201d Cuddihy replies, chuckling. \u201cSome of them just grow out of it then. That\u2019s the reality.\u201d When it comes to balanced debate, Cuddihy takes on all sides.<\/p>\n

\"SeánSe\u00e1n Moncrieffeschews flippancy for factuality when talking to Prof Scott Lucas.
\nPhotograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

On the face of things, Se\u00e1n Moncrieff<\/b> (Newstalk, weekdays) has a keen sense of fairness, approaching each item on his wide-ranging show with the same trademark combination of curious ear and raised eyebrow. But the variety of topics is such that some segments inevitably work better than others, with Moncrieff\u2019s tone shifting accordingly.<\/p>\n

So the presenter (who\u2019s also an Irish Times columnist<\/a>) eschews flippancy for factuality when talking to Prof Scott Lucas, of the Clinton institute at University College Dublin, about the US government shutdown. <\/p>\n

Equally, when discussing an academic survey of unexplained \u2013 aka paranormal \u2013 experiences with Margaret McGrogan of the University of Galway, Moncrieff is sceptical and even dismissive, as when his guest muses on AI\u2019s ability to absorb and synchronise knowledge with real-world effects. \u201cWho\u2019s not to say our brains can do that as well?\u201d she wonders. \u201cProbably most of medical science might say that,\u201d the host replies.<\/p>\n

Moncrieff finds a better balance when the subjects blend the idiosyncratic with the scientific, ideally with a side order of bodily functions. Despite its ostensibly saucy premise, his conversation with Helena Tubridy, a fertility coach, on the challenges of \u201cbaby-making sex\u201d highlights a sensitive and often-overlooked subject in enjoyable yet grown-up fashion.<\/p>\n

Tubridy debunks the notion that being relaxed during sex increases chances of conception \u2013 she scolds her host as a \u201cheretic\u201d for raising the question \u2013 but does hail the emotional and hormonal benefits for couples with a healthy love life: \u201cYou\u2019re actually helping fertility by having decent sex.\u201d It\u2019s an enlightening conversation, and defiantly unsexy too.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little light relief during Moncrieff\u2019s discussion with the neurology professor Colin Doherty about the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The condition, which is only diagnosable after death, is caused by repeated head injuries; it generally affects younger people, with contact sports unsurprisingly an exacerbating factor.<\/p>\n

The segment traverses a spectrum of arresting points, from Doherty\u2019s call for a register of sporting head injuries in young people to his wincingly vivid characterisation of fragile cerebral matter: \u201cThe brain is not a bouncy object,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like a peeled tomato: you could pulp it in your hand.\u201d You\u2019ll never look at your Caprese salad the same way again.<\/p>\n

Moncrieff, for his part, moves between obvious interest and authentic alarm: \u201cIt\u2019s a grim thought,\u201d he concludes. It\u2019s still more fun than a presidential debate.<\/p>\n

Moment of the week<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only a short item, but Wednesday\u2019s conversation between Oliver Callan<\/b> (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekdays) and Adas Rakauskas is immensely heartening and timely. Adas, who lives in Drogheda, recalls his materially poor childhood in rural Lithuania during the early 1990s, and his delight when he received a Christmas shoebox from Ireland, full of \u201ctiny little treasures\u201d. \u201cIt was a gift for me,\u201d as well as for his financially strapped parents.<\/p>\n

Now Adas wants re-create the gesture, as part of the Team Hope appeal for Christmas shoeboxes for children in impoverished parts of the world. At a time when Tricolours are being appropriated by anti-immigration extremists as signifiers of exclusion and intimidation, it\u2019s an uplifting reminder of the Irish spirit of generosity towards those less fortunate, as well as the value of the migrant experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As audiences can attest, it\u2019s a zinger of a presidential debate, with Kieran Cuddihy, its moderator, kept busy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[289,9,10,63967,18,13,14,63968,6,19,17,9170,23900,11,12,15,16,30253,5,30908,63969,59,63970,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-100807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-declan-ganley","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-hazel-chu","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-ivana-bacik","20":"tag-kieran-cuddihy","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-maria-steen","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-nicola-sturgeon","28":"tag-oliver-callan","29":"tag-presidential-election","30":"tag-sean-moncrieff","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}