Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Sinn Féin’s Planning for Constitutional Change Bill, which obliges the Government to draft and publish a Green Paper on unification within 18 months, failed to win support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, or independents.   ·      &nbsp...

For Germany, football is often a reflection of the nations’ stability. “When Germany is going well, things are going well on the pitch” Irish Times Berlin correspondent Derek Scally tells the Inside Politics podcast. Following another premature exit from a world cup tournament they won only 12 years ago; in football, as in German politics, the future is uncertain. Host Hugh Linehan asks where the...

British MP Nigel Farage has resigned as an MP triggering a by-election in the constituency of Clacton-on-Sea which he says he will stand in. It comes amid a row over his financial support, after The Sunday Times reported he had not declared benefits, including staff and security, received from his ally George Cottrell, who was convicted of fraud in the US. “I’ve done nothing wrong” Farage said on...

Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union got off to a slightly awkward start at the opening ceremony at Dublin Castle on Wednesday when guest Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned against “material emanating from a plant in Ireland” being used in Russia’s war eff...

Hugh Linehan is joined by Alex Kane to discuss the double life of disgraced politician Jeffrey Donaldosn and its broader impact on the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as well as Ulster unionism overall.  Alex Kane is an Irish News columnist and a political commentator as well as a former director of communications for the Ulster Unionist Party. The pair discuss a recent wave of stories that r...

Last week Pat Leahy sat down with former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte for an interview about his life in politics.  Rabbitte is now retired but for decades he was one of the most recognisable faces and voices of centre left politics in Ireland.  As a minister in the 2011 Fine Gael-Labour coalition, he witnessed first hand the events explored in our recent mini series on the subject. He tal...

Harry McGee and Cormac McQuinn join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics: All anyone can talk about this week is the weather. While the country enjoys the warmth, the Government still has to find balance between spending to prevent climate change and spending to mitigate the impact of change that has already arrived.  Keir Starmer may be gone but the UK's biggest problem remains: th...

Next week Ireland takes over the presidency of the EU Council. But what does that mean? What exactly is the EU Council anyway? How does this council and this presidency fit in among the numerous other European councils and presidents? And how is Ireland going to approach the challenges and opportunities the six-month position brings? To find out Pat Leahy talks to Jack Horgan-Jones and Jack P...

Jack Horgan-Jones and Mark Paul join Harry McGee to look back on the week in politics: ·       Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Brussels for the EU summit this week, also in attendance is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is pushing for serious peace negotiations with Russia. Will Vladimir Putin come to the negotiation table? And could Ukraine’s EU member...

 Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia in January 2001, and almost nobody thought that an encyclopedia that anyone in the world was allowed to edit would actually work. But a quarter of a century later, Wikipedia is still one of the most visited websites on Earth and one of the few large-scale online institutions that people across the political spectrum broadly trust.    In his new book, The Se...

Cormac McQuinn and Harry McGee join Hugh to discuss the week in politics: The disorder in Northern Ireland since a knife attack in Belfast on Monday reached levels not seen since “the worst possible days of the Troubles”, the Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Jon Boutcher said. In a society with a history of sectarianism, there are complex layers to the events taking place. Minist...

In a new book coauthored with fellow political scientists, UCD’s Aidan Regan argues that the three goals of democracy, economic growth and effective climate action are at odds with one another, and that the resulting “trilemma” requires novel political solutions to solve.  On today's podcast Aidan talks to Hugh about why it is so difficult to balance these goals and potential solutions. They...

For a special crossover episode of Inside Politics Hugh Linehan welcomes US podcaster Galen Druke, the host of GD Politics and formerly of the FiveThirtyEight politics podcast , for a discussion of the Irish and US political scenes. They cover topics including: Why there is no strong populist right party in Ireland Ireland’s economic success, dependence on US multinationals and military neutrality...

Pat Leahy and Ellen Coyne join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has come out this week to demand the Rotunda maternity hospital withdraw permission for consultants on public-only contracts to practise privately on its premises. If not, it could have its funding pulled. ·   &nbs...

Pat joins Hugh after interviewing Fianna Fáil's Darragh O'Brien about major issues related to his twin ministries, Transport and Climate, Energy and the Environment. They listen back to the interview and discuss what O'Brien had to say about a new scrappage scheme to encourage the purchase of EVs, Ireland's cert  ain failure to hit its legally-binding emissions targets in 2030 and the financial c...

Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       The left-wing alliance that was formed during Catherine Connolly’s presidential campaign is already straining, with the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit concerned with the policy direction of Sinn Féin on issues like migration and reproductive rights. ·...

RTÉ has been in the news again lately thanks to renewed controversy over payments to presenters. So it is a timely moment for the release of a new book on the institution. RTÉ: Saints, Scholars, and Scandals is the latest work by former TD, minister and journalist Shane Ross, who brings his dual experience of media and politics to bear on this unwieldy subject. He talks to Hugh about the deep root...

Journalist and author Helen Lewis has built a reputation for sharp analysis of politics, culture and the forces reshaping public life. In one piece for The Atlantic she unpicks policies, and the figures promoting them, arguing against some rights for women. On today’s podcast Helen tells Hugh about influential figures who would once have been considered “fringe” coming to the fore. She explains wh...

Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh to talk about the results of the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections:  As the day began Fine Gael were confident that their man, Senator Sean Kyne, would win the seat. That confidence wavered a little as Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas picked up significant transfers throughout the morning. In the end it wasn’t enough and Fine Gael leader Tanaiste...

A picture is emerging in the byelection counts. Hugh is joined by Pat Leahy, Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones to discuss what we have learned so far: On the basis of the numbers available on Saturday afternoon, Social Democrats councillor Daniel Ennis and Fine Gael senator Sean Kyne look well placed to take seats in Dublin Central and Galway West respectively. But transfers could still shift resu...

Pat Leahy and Naomi O’Leary join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Taoiseach Micheál Martin arrived in Italy on Friday, meeting Pope Leo in the Vatican and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome. This is part of a round of meetings with leaders ahead of Ireland’s EU presidency starting in July, with Martin meeting French president Emmanue...

Cormac McQuinn and Harry McGee join Hugh for a final look at the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections before voting takes place on Friday. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Economist and author Sinead O'Sullivan ruffled some feathers recently with her analysis of Ireland’s deficits in infrastructure and services. Her critiques of the State’s failure to deliver things that are taken for granted in other similarly wealthy countries sparked debate and drew pushback from figures including former taoiseach Leo Varadkar.  On today’s Inside Politics podcast she talks t...

Jack Horgan-Jones and Mark Paul join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       The findings of the Irish Times and TG4 by Ipsos B&A poll throws up some interesting permutations for the Dublin Central byelection. Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan leads the first preference vote at 21 per cent, Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats is in second place on...

The Irish Times and TG4 by Ipsos B&A poll shows Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan leads the byelection race in Dublin Central with first preference votes at 21 per cent, Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats is in second place on 18 per cent. But Ennis will be in line for a lot of transfers from the fragmented left-wing vote, with Labour, People Before Profit and the Green Party all having candidates i...