It’s a programme that has long thrived on fractious topics, so Kieran Cuddihy probably knew that taking over as host of Liveline (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) was never going to be a walk in the park.
But it’s unlikely he could have foreseen the way a small patch of green space in a Dublin suburb would become a political flashpoint.
Such is the brief of his new job, however – “If you’re talking about it, so are we,” the show’s tagline runs – that Cuddihy spends much of Monday discussing the controversial move to rename Herzog Park, tiptoeing around a metaphorical minefield in the process.
Following an unsuccessful attempt by Dublin City councillors to remove the name of Chaim Herzog, the late Irish-born Israeli president, from a park in Rathgar, Cuddihy hears the principal of the State’s only Jewish-ethos school describe how his students have been affected by anti-Semitic abuse.
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“Students and young people feel they can’t express their identity when they leave the school,” says Nathan Barrett of Stratford College, who believes that the proposal to dename Herzog Park, which adjoins his school, has added to the Jewish community’s sense of vulnerability.
Cuddihy sounds genuinely outraged. “It’s actually awful to hear that somebody would have to hide who they are,” he says. “It’s a really appalling vista.”
But he only touches on the tangled background to the renaming move when speaking to another school principal, Simon Lewis. A regular and thoughtful radio contributor on educational matters, Lewis is Jewish, even attending Stratford College, but he says he can see the issue from both sides.
On one hand, he acknowledges that certain names can become problematic: “Herzog is part of the Zionist story of Israeli occupation,” he notes. “The other side is it’s one of the very few places in Ireland that was named after someone who was Jewish,” he says. “The action of removing a Jewish name is quite a big thing.”
[ Chief Rabbi: Move to erase Chaim Herzog’s name and history is cruel hammer blowOpens in new window ]
Though he frets about sitting on the fence, Lewis believes that, if the space is ever renamed, it should be after another Irish Jewish figure, such as the writer and editor David Marcus. But he’s unequivocal when asked if he’s noticed an uptick in anti-Semitism. “I’m definitely more vulnerable as someone who comes from Jewish ethnicity than I was a decade ago,” he mournfully remarks, while suggesting all minorities have experienced such rising prejudice.
It’s a charged and dispiriting segment that Cuddihy navigates in tentative fashion: the backdrop of the carnage in Gaza is hardly raised, perhaps understandably.
He starts to sound more relaxed when other callers suggest alternative park names, while insisting they “welcome all the Jews to Ireland”, to use one guest’s perplexingly clunky phraseology. “The argument that you want everyone to feel welcome crashes slightly on the rocks of people saying this makes me feel unwelcome,” the host responds tartly.
In contrast, Cuddihy’s mood is positively giddy on Wednesday, when he hears that several Dublin food businesses were broken into two nights earlier.
In fairness, the host sounds sympathetic as several food-truck owners recount how their vehicles were targeted by the same gang. “It’s just pure vandalism,” says Ciara, owner of the Goat’s Gruff truck, adding that the business has been robbed three times this year: “I don’t think there’s anything more we can do.”
[ Family’s food truck destroyed by arson attack in Dublin: ‘Nothing is left’Opens in new window ]
Upsetting as such experiences are, they’re a staple of the Liveline diet, providing Cuddihy with easily digestible narratives of right and wrong, albeit sometimes with a strong aftertaste: “I do think we need to go back to being a stricter society,” another truck owner comments.
The host doesn’t offer such stark prescriptions, but he isn’t optimistic that community vigilance can make up for stretched Garda resources, as one guest hopes. “It’s a sorry state of affairs,” he says, sighing, though in truth he doesn’t sound especially upset: Cuddihy may still be settling into his new surroundings, but this is what he signed up for.
[ Ten great food trucks and restaurant pop-ups around IrelandOpens in new window ]
Meanwhile, Pat Kenny (Newstalk, weekdays) is getting ready to sign off. But with Claire Byrne due to take over his mid-morning slot in January, Kenny, who will move to a new weekend show, shows no sign of winding down. There’s certainly little indication that he’s allowing annoyances slide, as he voices peeves entertainingly unguardedly.
Discussing the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskiy with Seán Defoe, the station’s political correspondent, on Wednesday, the host is unimpressed by the spectacle of the Ukrainian president being mobbed by TDs during his Oireachtas address. “I thought it was all a bit provincial,” Kenny says sourly.
This is high praise compared with the disdain aimed at People Before Profit TDs who didn’t applaud Zelenskiy’s entrance: “If you don’t agree, just don’t show up.” It’s a somewhat harsh take on the deputies’ stance, if not unexpected: Kenny has been admirably unwavering in his supportive coverage of Ukraine’s resistance of Russia’s invasion.
He’s not always so forthright. Indeed, the host shows commendable restraint during his own discussion on the Herzog Park controversy, when the DUP MLA Brian Kingston characterises the mooted removal of the name of the Belfast-born Israeli president as a “disgraceful example of lack of tolerance”.
Possibly, but given the rich history of inclusivity and diversity for which Kingston’s party is renowned, one could be tempted to conclude that this is a hilarious example of lack of self-awareness; Kenny holds his counsel, however.
He’s more like himself when talking to the child psychotherapist Colman Noctor about a Children’s Ombudsman survey finding that 63 per cent of young people come across extremist commentary online. Encouragingly, only 6 per cent of respondents said they encounter such views in real life, which tallies with Noctor’s own experience, though he stresses that vulnerable young men can be susceptible to racist and misogynistic material.
Not for the first time, Kenny is especially exercised by the impunity with which social media algorithms disseminate toxic posts, contemptuously dismissing the tech companies’ contention that online regulation curtails free speech.
“This is absolute nonsense,” he says, calling for financial sanctions on platforms that spread fraudulent material: “Money is the only thing they understand.”
For all Kenny’s tendency to go off script, there’s something bracing about his candour, particularly as we’ll soon be hearing less of it. As a broadcaster, he remains outstanding in his field.
Moment of the week
The old Blues Brothers gag about a redneck bar playing both kinds of music – “country and western” – comes to mind during Tuesday’s edition of Today with David McCullagh (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), when the host discusses a pilot project to arm gardaí with tasers.
Canvassing a wide spectrum of opinion, McCullagh hears the former Garda assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan welcome the measure, then speaks to Antoinette Cunningham, former general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, who also approves of the plan, if a tad more cautiously. Thus listeners hear both sides of the debate: law and order.
