Irish Times Inside Politics

Today's podcast focusses on Brexit and the Sinn Fein party's fortunes. London Editor Denis Staunton explains why UK Prime Minister Theresa May is unlikely to lose a confidence vote called by her own backbenchers and what the process means for Brexit, for The Tories and parliamentary politics in Britain. Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty is here to discuss his party's showing in the p...

With Hugh to appraise all this week's political news (including high drama in Westminster, the personalised abortion legislation debate, Peadar Tóibín's new political movement and the Fiscal Advisory Council's reprimand of the Government's budgetary policies) are UCC political scientist Dr Theresa Reidy and Pat Leahy and Jennifer Bray from our politics team. Would you like to receive daily insight...

"Putin and his regime are going to become more hostile, malicious and deadly to the rest fo the world, and we need to understand this".Since the murder in Russia of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Bill Browder has been on a mission to highlight and punish corruption and crime in that country and beyond. He is in Dublin this week to push for the introduction here of a law to mirror the US Magnitsky Ac...

As we wait for UK parliament to vote on Theresa May's deal, Hugh talks to two people with thought-provoking and divergent ideas about what brought about Brexit in the first place: Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole and Professor Helen Thompson of Cambridge University. The conversation touches on everything from the Norman invasion to the nature of the EU single market, and even a fictional EU pr...

Concerns are growing that the Government’s proposed abortion legislation will not pass through the Oireachtas in time for its planned introduction date in January. Was Minister Simon Harris naive in setting the deadline? Irish Times politics team new recruit Jennifer Bray joins old timers Hugh, Pat and Harry to talk about this and other matters including Brexit, Leo's tax cuts promise, and the nat...

On the floor at the Fine Gael National Conference, the Inside Politics team interviews Tanaiste Simon Coveney about Brexit, what happens if the deal is not approved by UK parliamentarians and the role of the DUP. Plus: A major policy announcement has been made by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in his speech: a pledge to raise the threshold for the higher rate of income tax from €35,000 to €50,000 over fiv...

With a Brexit deal agreed between Britain and the EU, now all eyes turn to Westminster. Will Prime Minister Theresa May be able to bounce her cabinet, the Commons and the EU into a deal that nobody likes and many despise? And ultimately could the markets scare the Commons into accepting anything to avoid No Deal? Meanwhile in Dublin, all focus is on whether the wording of the border backstop will...

Author Michael Lewis (Moneyball, The Big Short, The Undoing Project)talks to Hugh about his new book 'The Fifth Risk'. The book concerns the Trump Administration and what Lewis says are astounding levels of cronyism and corruption in the appointments it has made in key government organisations with responsibility for everything from nuclear weapons to weather forecasting. Would you like to receive...

New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe has written a book about the killing of mother-of-ten Jean McConville by the IRA in 1972. As well as uncovering new facts about the circumstances around McConville's killing, and making a new allegation about the identities of those who killed her, the book is a valuable outsider's view of the enduring legacy of The Troubles and the roles of republican...

First: Washington Correspondent Suzanne Lynch on a night of mixed results for both parties and President Trump in the US Midterms. What message will Democratic Party take from this when selecting a presidential challenger to Donald Trump for 2020?Then: economist and Irish Times columnist David McWilliams joins Hugh and Fiach to talk about his new book Renaissance Nation, the success of political c...

RTÉ political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald has written a book about the experiences of the small number of women - 10% of the total - who have sat at the cabinet table in Ireland. Madam Politician features interviews with all "the living members of this exclusive club". She's here to talk about what she found with Pat Leahy and Harry McGee. They are also joined by Labour councillor Rebecca Moy...

The official numbers are not yet in but the result is clear. Kitty Holland, Pat Leahy and Fiach Kelly are here to talk about the reelection of Michael D Higgins to the presidency, the surge in support for Peter Casey, who today denied the growth in his support was due to his comments about Travellers, and the disappointing showing from Sinn Féin's Liadh Ní Riada. Has this election exposed a flaw i...

There’s still one more live debate left to endure in this presidential campaign, but last night’s on RTÉ’s Prime Time was the final one to feature all six would-be presidents. Did we learn anything new about the candidates? Director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism at DCU, Jane Suiter, joins Hugh and Pat to discuss their performances, whether there were too many contestants in the...

In this bonus podcast, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald explains why her party is working “might and main” to ensure there is a Brexit backstop. She also speaks to Hugh and Fiach about her belief that a Border poll will happen in the next 5-10 years and why a hard Brexit would in fact speed that process up. Asked whether she regretted criticising former Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald fo...

Could Brexit be "one of those historic circumstances where you end up with something only a hardcore of loopers really wants", asks Fintan O'Toole? Fintan joins regulars Hugh and Fiach to talk about the carnival of diabolical scheming, treacherous backsliding and barmy brinkmanship that is Brexit, as Theresa May meets EU leaders in Brussels. After that they discuss the presidential election and wh...

Pat Leahy joins Hugh to take a look at the latest poll from The Irish Times and Ipsos/MRBI showing Fine Gael enjoy a steady lead over nearest rivals Fianna Fáil, with an average 8 point advantage over the last 12 months. The results point towards a reasonably settled political landscape, so where do voters stand on the issue of a general election? And, how did Paschal Donohoe's Budget 2019 go down...

Hugh is joined by Pat Leahy for a bonus Friday episode of Inside Politics. On the agenda: - Denis Naughten’s shock resignation as Minister for Communications leaves the government with a fibre optic headache. - Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin pens a 'Dear Leo' letter. Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing...

Leo Varadkar won the Fine Gael leadership on a promise of rewarding those who "get up early in the morning". 18 months later his government has delivered a budget in which spending increases dwarf the tax cuts those early risers might have expected. To discuss the measures, the thinking behind them and the beginning of the endgame in the Varadkar-Martin deal, Fiach Kelly and Pat Leahy join Hugh Li...

Hugh is joined by Fiach Kelly and Harry McGee for a bonus Friday episode of Inside Politics. On the agenda: - It was another terrible week for Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, with a well-attended protest outside the Dail followed by a harrowing RTE radio report featuring a teenage girl in emergency accommodation. It was the sort of interview that breaks through the noise and forces everyone to sit...

The DUP's line on Brexit is "blood red", according to Arlene Foster. Her apocalyptic choice of words might reflect a deep-seated unionist fear of betrayal by London, says Pat Leahy. Meanwhile over at the Tory conference a more pragmatic attitude to Brexit prevails, says The Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll. Still: something, somewhere, has to give. "Small Country, Big Nation", "Leading With Purpose", "Be...

Today's guest is Senator Lynn Ruane, the author of an excellent new memoir, who insists there is no such thing as 'reverse snobbery'. Or at least it's not something that a well-heeled person like (say for example) Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy needs to worry about, not in the way someone from Lynn's own neighbourhood needs to worry about the real, oppressive thing. With Political Editor Pat L...

A group of housing activists have been occupying vacant properties in Dublin city centre since early August as part of a protest over the amount of vacant housing in the city. Last week the Take Back the City protesters drew national attention to their cause when men wearing black balaclavas repossessed 34 North Frederick Street, which the group had been occupying since mid-August. Two of the acti...

Harry McGee is back on the politics beat and back in the Inside Politics studio to tell us about the political problems created by the CervicalCheck report, beginning with a leak of details from the report to media outlets yesterday. Harry has also been watching the nationwide tour of presidential hopefuls as they seek to hoover up county council nominations. For an exciting October election campa...

DCU's Jane Suiter joins Hugh and Pat to talk about the exchange of letters between and Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on the topic of renewing their little arrangement. Martin rebuffed Varadkar's advance - what next for confidence and supply? Plus, Varadkar defends embattled Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and criticises Sinn Fein and local government on housing, and Dublin readies...

Last week, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe gave a talk at the Collins Institute, a Fine Gael-associated think tank in Dublin. The talk was about the political centre, how it is weakening in other jurisdictions and how he sees Fine Gael's role as a party of the centre. Before delivering the address he talked to Hugh Linehan about his politics, including his rejection of the label conservative...