Seán Moncrieff the war correspondent? Bet you didn’t see that one coming

You can never predict what you’ll hear on Moncrieff (Newstalk, weekdays), but regular listeners know what to expect. From overlooked news curios to obscure historical episodes or esoteric academic studies, subjects from the far-flung corners of the media are the staples of Seán Moncrieff’s long-running programme, regularly inviting such dread descriptors as “eclectic” and “quirky”. So it’s genuinely surprising when the host (who also writes a column for the Irish Times magazine) opens Monday’s show by reporting on the drama and devastation he saw during his trip to Ukraine. Moncrieff the war correspondent? Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

In fact, Moncrieff’s mission isn’t as radical a move as it might seem, laudable and vital though it is. To mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the host tells of his visit the previous week to Kyiv, where he spoke to survivors of the fighting and toured the city’s ruined suburbs. But as he makes clear, he was there not for gritty frontline dispatches but to see how the Ukrainian capital’s inhabitants go about their everyday lives.

[ Seán Moncrieff: For a radio presenter, I'm rubbish at small talk ]

“People are attempting to live normally,” he says, contrasting the city’s open shops and “excellent” restaurants with the prevailing air of caution and anxiety. “There’s a sense of the whole thing being surreal.” As if to underline the strangeness of the situation, he plays a clip of the country’s mobile-phone air-raid system, voiced in English by the Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who gives the all-clear with the legend: “May the force be with you.”

Moments like this chime with Moncrieff’s ear for the absurd, as does his report from a Kyiv comedy club. His recording of being in a subway station during an air alert is more dramatic but also more familiar after a year of news reports. In contrast, his ostensibly offbeat elements help convey the atmosphere of a modern European city in wartime, when peril and fear coexist with recognisable day-to-day life.

That They May Face the Rising Sun: The best Irish film in a very long time

---

‘When our last embryo failed, the clinic told us there was nothing more they could do for us’

---

Take That in Dublin review: ‘Whose idea was it to have stairs?’ puffs Gary Barlow as the band roll back the years with dazzling show

---

Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd on the true story behind the show: ‘People are afraid to admit they made mistakes’

---

Moncrieff’s most ominous anecdote comes as he recalls the batteries of anti-aircraft missiles surrounding a Polish airport. As he notes during his interview about the trip on The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, weekdays), it’s jarring to see such heavy weaponry in an EU country. “God knows what could happen if this goes on,” he says. With no end to the conflict on the horizon, it’s a grim thought.

[ Unapologetic, unrepentant and scornful, Seán Moncrieff hits his stride ]

Not that the host has undergone a Damascene conversion from laconic sociocultural observer to fatalistic war reporter. Among the week’s other items are an interview with an archaeologist about the possible discovery of an ancient Roman sex toy, and a discussion on a new study confirming the long-suspected link between sports cars and diminutive penile size. But in applying his drolly curious sensibility to his experiences on the ground in Kyiv, Moncrieff, to his immense credit, really does confound expectations, bearing witness to the impact of Putin’s savage invasion in affecting fashion.

Here in Ireland there are other pressing matters to deal with. On Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), Cormac Ó hEadhra hears the Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae decry the decision of the National Driving Licence Service to accept only credit and debit cards for payments.

“We live in a democracy where cash is a legal tender,” says the Kerry deputy, adopting his default on-air tone of perplexed outrage. In this case, however, it’s easy to share his annoyance at such socially exclusionary tactics, particularly when Ó hEadhra reads out a tin-eared NDLS statement about also accepting digital methods such as Apple Pay. “You may as well be asking a person to pay with bananas,” Healy-Rae says in exasperation.

Ever the thorough interrogator, however, Ó hEadhra makes the case against cash. Apologising to listeners in advance – never a good sign – the presenter recalls how as a young bar worker he served a punter who was constanting picking his nose. “Every time he went to pay he’d take the same finger, rub it off a fiver and hand it to me,” says the host, shuddering at the memory. “I would be much happier with a card payment than that.” Even the usually relentless Healy-Rae sounds taken aback: “That’s a sobering thought for somebody sitting down to their sausages and pudding.”

It’s entertaining panto, though it precludes more considered analysis on card-only payments effectively sidelining older and poorer people.

Elsewhere on the programme, the intertwined cost-of-living and accommodation crises spur lively and, indeed, perplexing exchanges. On Monday, Sarah McInerney hears Denyse Campbell of the Irish Hotels Federation make the case for her sector retaining the lower VAT rate, saying any raise would put tourism at risk. When McInerney, citing Fáilte Ireland data, suggests tourists aren’t coming here because it’s too expensive, Campbell disagrees. “There’s great value to be had,” she says bullishly. “Whatever you think about value for money, people in the UK, Europe and possibly the US don’t agree,” McInerney coolly responds. It’s a neat puncturing of a weak assertion, though, judging by the subsequent retention of the lower VAT rate, such arguments carry force with the Government.

Meanwhile, the question of whether to extend the temporary eviction ban prompts spirited discussion on Wednesday. Ó hEadhra speaks to Pat Davitt of the auctioneers’ body IPAV, who welcomes Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s highlighting the sticky issue of returning emigrants unable to move into apartments they own due to sitting tenants. Predicting an “avalanche” of people seeking properties back, Davitt is phlegmatic about the logical corollary if the ban is lifted: “Unfortunately, people are going to be evicted and they’re going to have to look for other properties.” This time it’s Ó hEadhra’s turn to be flummoxed, but his spluttered protestations about how ousted tenants are to find accommodation in the current crisis fail to sway his guest.

The intractability of the issue notwithstanding, it’s a pretty breathtaking conversation: even predictably glum topics can yield surprises.