Mairia Cahill

Mairia Cahill is from west Belfast. She is a former Irish senator and a freelance writer for the Sunday Independent. She waived her lifetime right to anonymity as a rape victim on the BBCNI Spotlight programme 'A Woman Alone with the IRA'.

Thursday

Mairia Cahill

What crisis?

From our UK edition

41 min listen

On this week's podcast: For the cover of the magazine Kate Andrews assesses the politics of panic, and the fallout of last week's so-called fiscal event. She is joined by Robert Colvile, director of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank to discuss where the Conservatives go from here (00:57).Also this week:Does the future belong to Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland?This is the claim that Jenny McCartney makes in this week's Spectator. We speak with journalist Melanie McDonagh and politician Mairia Cahill about what this could mean for Irish reunification (15:58).And finally:Are red kites magnificent or a menace?Paul Sargeanton says in his article for The Spectator that red kites should have never been reintroduced back into the UK.

Thursday

Mairia Cahill

Rishi’s nightmare: Will inflation crush the recovery?

From our UK edition

41 min listen

Could a blip in inflation ruin the UK's economic recovery? (00:50) Why is support for the IRA becoming normalised? (12:20) What makes a great diarist? (31:15) With The Spectator's economics correspondent Kate Andrews; economist Julian Jessop; writer Jenny McCartney; politician Mairia Cahill; satirist Craig Brown; and historian, journalist and author Simon Heffer. Presented by Cindy Yu.  Produced by Max Jeffery, Alex Valizadeh, Alexa Rendell and Matt Taylor.

Monday

Mairia Cahill

Why did Roy Greenslade demonise me when I accused an IRA member of rape?

From our UK edition

Does it really matter if someone who was a newspaper editor, columnist and journalism professor has now admitted to being an unapologetic supporter for the ‘physical force’ carried out by the IRA? In short, yes it does, very much. You might not have heard of Roy Greenslade until the story this weekend that the former Daily Mirror editor, and Sun executive outed himself as an ardent IRA supporter. But we now know that, while Greenslade had platformed himself in some very powerful publications as commentator and champion of media ethics, he was, arguably, a master of cognitive dissonance when it came to his own profession. As one of the targets of his pen, let me tell you about the grief he caused me.