Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

First: Patrick Smyth in Brussels joins Hugh and Pat to talk about the thinking behind the EU's stance on a potential Brexit delay. Then: Jennifer Bray on why councillors in Donegal, using one of their few regulatory powers, have voted to legalise gaming machines despite the risks of addiction. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Sta...

Western democracies are beset by a variety of problems: fractured legislative bodies, the rise of the far right, the erosion of norms and the dangers posed by technology. But we shouldn't confuse those with the problems of the past, according to David Runciman in his book How Democracy Ends. Ahead of his talk at the Mountains to Sea festival on Sunday March 31st, he talks to Hugh about his ideas....

Prime Minister Theresa May has failed spectacularly in her bid to pass a Brexit deal through the House of Commons. The Guardian's Brexit correspondent Lisa O'Carroll on the fallout in Westminster, the few paths forward and the 'atomisation' of conventional politics. Fintan O'Toole on the characteristics that have brought Theresa May and the nation she leads to this point of political breakdown. Ho...

The second set of results from the Irish Times / Ipsos MRBI poll reveals attitudes to Brexit and Irish unity across the island of Ireland, north and south. Among the most significant findings: respondents from all communities in Northern Ireland are heavily in favour of "the softest of soft Brexits". A majority of voters would choose to remain in the EU in a second referendum. And majorities of bo...

Political Editor Pat Leahy is here with the latest Ipsos / MRBI poll which brings bad news for most political groups but especially for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, support for whom has dipped significantly. 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...

First: Fiach Kelly explains what we've learned from a cache of documents featuring exchanges between Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, his party colleagues and an international umbrella organisation for socialist politics, while Jennifer Bray has the latest on internal divisions within the Social Democrats. Then: Is there any version of the backstop that could be accepted by the EU, Ireland and Britain?...

Finally it seems that meaningful moves are being made in Westminster toward some sort of conclusion to the Brexit saga. Denis Staunton and Pat Leahy analyse the public shifts in position made in recent days by Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and hard Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, and the private strategising of the Irish government, the DUP and the European Union. Would you li...

The EU-Arab League summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, today has been dominated by talk of Brexit. And it has turned out to be a more eventful day than promised, with expectations growing that UK Prime Minister Theresa May will take steps to avoid 'No Deal', reports our Deputy Political Editor Fiach Kelly. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up fo...

At the Fianna Fáil ardfheis in City West, everyone, from the regular delegates on up to the party leader Micheál Martin, wants to take the fight to Fine Gael in a general election. But not right now, of course. As all are at pains to point out, the party must hold off in the national interest. Harry McGee and Pat Leahy were there to assess the party mood. They were joined by the party's Brexit spo...

Jennifer Bray and Fiach Kelly join presenter Harry McGee to discuss the big political stories this week: the continuing National Children’s Hospital controversy, the government's Brexit omnibus, UK Labour resignations and Fianna Fáil's Ard Fheis this weekend. Later: Historian Dr Marisa McGlinchey talks to Harry about her book, Unfinished Business - The Politics of 'Dissident' Republican Groups, fo...

As a professor of economic history at Oxford University, and an Irishman, Kevin O'Rourke is well placed to explain how the different economic experiences of the UK and Ireland have led both nations to very different views of the European Union. His book on the subject, A Short History of Brexit, holds plenty of surprises for Irish and British readers. And Professor O'Rourke has a message for Taois...

Amid apologies and ‘learnings’, the row over the massive overspend on the National Children’s Hospital rumbles on. Two big questions remain: What will the final bill be? And, which other projects will suffer as a result? Hugh is joined by Fianna Fáil deputy leader Dara Calleary, Pat Leahy and Jennifer Bray to discuss the controversy and how budgets on capital projects can be controlled better in t...

Simon Carswell has been investigating the potential impact of Brexit on people - their lives, their communities and their businesses. He talks to Hugh Linehan about what he has discovered, including the fear of the return of violence, the threat to trade and the concerns of children in border communities. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up f...

First: A subtle but deliberate shift was noted in Theresa May's position on the Brexit backstop during a trip to Belfast yesterday. As the two-day Northern Ireland visit draws to a close today, is her strategy any clearer and what are its chances of survival? Plus: The blame game over the dramatic cost overrun on the proposed National Children's Hospital is lurching from controversy to full-blown...

Theresa May has united Tory MPs behind her plan to go to Brussels to seek legally binding changes to the Brexit withdrawal agreement, exploring 'alternative options' to the Irish backstop. The trouble is, the EU won’t reopen the deal and they’ve said so time and again. The Guardian’s Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll, Irish Times Europe editor Patrick Smyth and Irish Times deputy political edito...

Sunday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and to mark it Hugh talks to academic and author Deborah Lipstadt about her new book Antisemitism Here and Now. They discuss the growth of antisemitism in Europe and the United State, what distinguishes antisemitism of the political left from the political right, and why she has a problem with an initiative in the Seanad to boycott goods from Israe...

First: Pat Leahy on the comments yesterday by an EU Commission spokesperson suggesting that a hard border will appear in the case of a no deal Brexit, a suggestion flatly rejected by Simon Coveney. But what are our plans in the case of a no deal Brexit? Is a softening on the backstop being considered behind closed doors? Then: The Irish Times's Fintan O'Toole and Children's Rights Alliance CEO Tan...

Public meetings to introduce pro-life TD Peadar Tóibín's new, as-yet unnamed political party have been drawing decent crowds around the country in recent weeks. Already 1,400 people have joined the party. Who are they, and what will the party stand for beyond opposition to abortion? Peadar sits down with Hugh and Pat to explain. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered...

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan joins Hugh and Pat to consider last night's historic House of Commons defeat for Theresa May's Brexit plan. Has the likelihood of a 'no deal' crash out increased? And, how prepared is the Irish government for such a scenario? Also on the agenda: Fine Gael's "old-fashioned environmentalism", the carbon tax and the Green Party's ambitions for the local and European elec...

As nurses prepare for days of strike action, our politics team consider the problem it poses for Minister Paschal Donohoe and how he is likely to respond. In part two the panel look ahead to the new political season and discuss the significance of upcoming European elections in an utterly changed European political landscape and the meagre legislative agenda. But as ever, it's all overshadowed by...

Today, for the benefit of those who recently discovered Inside Politics, we're reposting a podcast with one of our favourite interviewees: American author, historian and academic Timothy Snyder. In November 2017 Hugh interviewed Timothy Snyder about his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, in which he makes provocative and unsettling comparisons between today's politics and...

The second of two AMA episodes of Inside Politics. Answering your questions about politics and more are Pat Leahy, Fiach Kelly, Jennifer Bray and Harry McGee with host Hugh Linehan. 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.c...

We invited you to submit questions for our politics team and we received a lot of responses, so today is the first of two episodes dedicated to answering them. Thanks to everyone who sent in a question! 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...

What did The Irish Times politics team expect to see happening in 2018 that failed to materialise? Which politicians impressed us? What disappointed us? Fiach Kelly, Jennifer Bray and Harry McGee join Hugh to look back on the year in politics. 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...

This day 100 years ago, citizens (including, for the first time, women) across the entire island of Ireland voted together for the final time for a national parliament. To look back at that vote and its historic consequences, Hugh is joined by Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times columnist and Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD, and Dr Mary McAuliffe, a lecturer in Gender Studies who specialises i...