Waterford murders provoke blood-boiling exchanges on Liveline

For all that things have changed on Liveline (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) since Kieran Cuddihy took over as host, some elements remain stubbornly, if not quite reassuringly, the same. The show’s ability to generate bizarrely inappropriate quarrels remains intact, for example, at least if Wednesday’s edition is anything to go by. While the rest of the country reacts to the appalling murders of the English family in Waterford with dumbfounded horror, Cuddihy instead finds himself moderating ill-tempered exchanges on the issues thrown up by the terrible news.To be fair, Cuddihy doesn’t set out with the intention of creating gratuitous on-air conflict. With the lethal arson attack that killed Kim and Philip English and their sons Callum and Jayden linked to intimidation by a local drug gang, Cuddihy talks to Deborah, who recounts the threats – and worse – that she suffered when her son ran up debts with cocaine dealers.Speaking in a disguised voice, Deborah tells how, having paid an initial €500, the extortion escalated as her son’s addiction grew, with different dealers turning up to demand money; on one occasion her windows were smashed. READ MOREAs well as living in constant fear – “You’re being watched all the time” – her grim situation was actually compounded rather than improved by paying the debts, with dealers preferring to pursue easy targets. Although the menace diminished after her son entered rehab, Deborah’s grim tale underlines the ease with which entire families can get pulled into a cycle of violence over money owed to dealers by drug users.So far so harrowing. But things turn testy after Cuddihy hears from Robert, a drug dealer turned criminologist who has a novel (to put it mildly) proposal for de-escalating debt-related intimidation before it can turn lethal. With police action ineffective and drug use inevitable, Robert suggests that local “credible messengers” act as go-betweens between dealers and users’ families to settle debts, in order to prevent potentially fatal retribution.“Violence is bad for business,” Robert says, explaining why gangs would agree to this approach. Cuddihy sounds decidedly dubious about anything that leaves criminals unpunished: “Is this not a version of ‘don’t confront burglars’?”But the host’s ambivalent attitude is as nothing compared with the reaction of his next caller. “This guy makes my blood boil,” Chris says as he variously blames government indifference and “too many bleeding hearts” for the apparent impunity with which vicious drug gangs act.If Chris is clear about the problem – “There’s no deterrents in this country” – he’s less specific about the solution, beyond cracking down on crime in robust if undefined manner. “I’m losing my train of thought because I’m so annoyed,” he says. Robert, in turn, defends his stance, claiming that prison exacerbates criminality in young offenders, but he doesn’t help his case by fudging his response when asked if the killers of the English family should be jailed, no matter what their age. “The answer has to be yes,” Cuddihy says, by way of impatient nudge.This sourly argumentative tone may be at odds with the wider mood of stunned revulsion, but it’s also understandable given the appalling events in Waterford. Cuddihy isn’t immune to heightened emotions either, as he condemns the hypocrisy of middle-class professionals “tut-tutting” drug-related attacks while consuming cocaine themselves. “The coke they shove up their noses, they’re buying it from the same people,” the host says. “It’s a bugbear of mine.” It’s also an authentic – and timely – expression of outrage.After all that, the opposing opinions aired during Cuddihy’s segment on Wednesday’s one-day strike by public sector workers sounds almost genteel by comparison, if still lively. Lee phones in to support the strike, highlighting the poor conditions and pay endured by his nurse daughter, while upbraiding the host for saying that thousands had been inconvenienced by the cancellation of hospital appointments. “I wasn’t weighing in on one side or other,” Cuddihy replies curtly. “It’s a statement of fact.”Other contributors inevitably take a different view. Robert complains that teachers are on higher salaries than factory workers, while Stephen baldly asserts that there are “far too many civil servants doing nothing”. Despite the differing stances, the item lacks the fury of the earlier drug debate. But it all adds up to a vintage episode of the long-running show, offering the requisite on-air drama while providing insights into charged subjects. If Cuddihy’s tenure on Liveline can still yield angry jousting, it’s because he knows how to touch a nerve.Over on The Claire Byrne Show (Newstalk, weekdays), the host covers developments in Waterford and on the picket lines less contentiously, her customary composure ensuring that Liveline-style fireworks don’t suddenly ignite. But while Byrne’s treatment of these big stories typically avoids extraneous antagonism, she continues to make her mark on her Newstalk show in other ways, by quietly carving out signature themes.Some of these topics aren’t especially surprising, such as her concentration on health-related items. Byrne is particularly engaged when these dovetail with wider issues such as misogyny; although she remains focused during her discussion on the foul description by the US comedian Shane Gillis of women in gyms as “whores”, there’s no mistaking her strong feelings on the matter.Less predictable is her interest in the affordability of retrofitting homes, but it’s a subject the host has pursued with notable vigour since her RTÉ days. Having heard Karol Kissane of the Irish Farm Accounts Co-operative claim on Tuesday’s show that low earners are unable to access retrofitting grants, Byrne revisits the issue the next day.True, there’s a familiar pattern to the arguments of the Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly (who decries the warmer-homes-grant system) and the Fine Gael TD John Clendennen (who defends it). But the host appears to enjoy the occasionally tetchy encounter, overruling the protagonists’ complaints about one interrupting the other. “It’s a debate. It’s okay,” she says.Byrne’s gently laissez-faire attitude hardly heralds a new era of swashbuckling controversy on her show. But it again highlights how comfortable the host sounds in the comparatively less constrictive broadcasting environment of Newstalk, with the result that even a little argument goes a long way.Moment of the weekWhile Seán Moncrieff (Newstalk, weekdays) revels in subjects that others might find gross, his item on bedbugs is conspicuously icky even by his standards. Prompted by the news of a Qantas flight grounded by an infestation of bedbugs, Moncrieff (who’s also an Irish Times columnist) learns about the parasites from the zoologist Michel Dugon, who brings a witty energy to the itch-inducing discussion. Dugon describes the ease with which bedbugs travel (“They are fantastic hitchhikers”) and the speed with which they propagate (“When you notice it, it’s already too late”), as well as their sanguinary impact on bed linen: “If you squash one, you have a nice blood stain.” To top it all, bedbugs turn out to be resistant to most insecticides. By the end, even the usually imperturbable host is seeking consolatory scraps of information. “Can they overdo it?” Moncrieff asks. “Ah, they’re greedy little things,” his guest answers, with disconcerting levity. It’s just as well Moncrieff’s show airs during the afternoon: try sleeping after that.