The Candidate

It started on Tuesday with tractors and trucks on major roads. Dublin city centre ground to a half. By Thursday, protesters were blockading Ireland's only oil refinery, the army had been called in, and the Taoiseach was calling it an act of national sabotage. Three days! That's how fast this has escalated, and nobody seems to know how it ends because nobody's entirely sure who's leading it. Christ...

Finance Minister Simon Harris has outlined (again) what his much-flagged personal savings and investment scheme is going to going to look like. Well, kind of. We still don't know the exact details but we have the broad strokes: it'll encourage people to put money into a government-run investment account, rather than letting it languish in a savings account. The Social Democrats aren't impressed so...

The National Children's Hospital has just missed its 18th deadline, and when an Oireachtas committee asked when it would actually be ready, the answer was: we'll need another 15 days to come up with a new date. Meanwhile, 570 staff still need to be hired in a city where nurses struggle to afford to live. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn and Rónán Duffy ask why the government keeps treating its most...

The reviews are in from the Oval Office, and the verdict is... it wasn't a disaster? Martin met Trump, defended Starmer, stifled a grin during a rant about windmills, and told the US president he's doing his bit for peace in the Middle East (gulp). The bar for success remains firmly on the floor: don't poke the bear, don't make headlines, get out alive. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthe...

Fuel prices have been climbing higher, and higher... and higher. The government's response? We're monitoring it. Wait and see. Let's not make any knee-jerk decisions. But as one of our team puts it: everyone can see what's happening in Iran, everyone can see what's happening at the pumps, so how much more evidence do you need that this isn't going to blow over? Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews, Chri...

It's day six of the US-led war on Iran and Ireland's government still can't bring itself to say two crucial words. With the White House visit just weeks away, Micheál Martin is leaning hard on phrases like "rules-based international order" - but what rules do we need to actually pay attention to? The government called out genocide in Gaza, but has suddenly gone quiet. Christine Bohan, Christina Fi...

Sinn Féin's Dublin Central selection convention was meant to be a formality. Campaigner Gillian Sherratt was widely tipped to get the nod. Instead, the party's own members backed long-standing local councillor Janice Boylan. Was it a grassroots revolt against a parachute candidate? Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews, Christina Finn and Rónán Duffy dig into why Irish politics keeps rejecting outsiders,...

The government's plan to review how SNAs are allocated lead to a U-turn that was almost as sharp as the backlash. Letters landing in principals' inboxes triggered a political firestorm, TDs lined up to call it an own goal, and the plan was shelved. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy ask: how did the government walk into this one? Also: is there a snobbery problem with...

Another St Patrick's Day trip to the White House, another thorny issue to navigate. This time, it's the detention of an Irish citizen in a US immigration centre. Despite reports of grim conditions and rising concerns for other undocumented Irish people, Micheál Martin seems reluctant to put it front and centre with Donald Trump. Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews, Rónán Duffy and Christina Finn unpack...

The government wants e-bike and e-scooter users to wear helmets and high-vis gear, but critics say that’s missing the point. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews and Rónán Duffy dig into the backlash to this latest safety proposal and why the cycling debate in Ireland seems to hit a nerve every time. Also: Should politicians be using AI to write speeches? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

The most powerful political force in Ireland? Flooding. Storm Chandra has kicked off a public row between Housing Minister James Browne and Met Éireann. After Browne suggested Met Éireann 'guarded' information and should change how it issues warnings, question are now being asked: is the warning system fit for purpose, and who is accountable when flooding hits? Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews and R...

The annual St Patrick’s Day trip to the White House used to be a low-stakes photo op. Now? It's a perennial (somewhat tiresome, perhaps) news story and moral dilemma: will we, or won't we? Should Micheál Martin go, and if he does, what does Ireland actually gain and risk? Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews, Rónán Duffy and Christina Finn unpack the political calculations around this, whether there's a...

It's a new Dáil term and a new season of The Candidate, but issues at home are taking a back seat right now. Non-consensual, AI-generated sexual imagery has become the flashpoint after X’s Grok tool made it easier to create and share this content. With gardaí investigating suspected child sexual abuse material, and ministers floating half-formed calls to ban the AI chatbot completely, the governme...

Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy share their favourite political shows - the ones that helped them escape (or make sense of) real-life Leinster House drama. From The West Wing to Veep, The Thick of It to Borgen, they offer recommendations for what to binge over Twixmas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy hand out their now-traditional end-of-year political awards, from the Michael Myers Award for Hanging On In There to the MGMT Difficult Second Album Award. The team reflect on the wins, flops, scandals, and surprises of 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A video aimed at young people moving back in with their parents, shared by the Department of Housing, was meant to be helpful... but it didn't land like that. At all. No sir.  Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews and Rónán Duffy unpick why the backlash was so immediate and the lessons needed for the government on talking about the housing crisis. Do decision makers really understand just how hard t...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first visit to Ireland was smooth, symbolic, and tightly stage-managed. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, and Jane Matthews unpack the carefully curated optics of the visit, and examine what was said vs what wasn't. Also: how we are still talking about the Occupied Territories Bill? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A judicial review filed against the long awaited MetroLink has sparked a backlash from both government and a public fed up with delays. Ministers are treading carefully, defending the right to object while clearly hoping the residents of Dublin's leafiest of leafy suburbs back down. Will this be a short planning skirmish or a defining infrastructure war? Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, and Jane M...

In a move that has raised some eyebrows across Leinster House, Simon Harris has made himself the country's new Minister for Finance. This meant skipping over the entire Fine Gael front bench team in his search to fill the gap left by Paschal Donohoe’s high-profile exit to the World Bank. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy unpack why Harris did it, and how this could sh...

Catherine Connolly’s first speech as president was careful, critical, calm, with just a few pointed lines that hinted at how she’ll approach the role. But for such a major democratic moment, it felt stilted and oddly empty. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy examine why the inauguration itself felt so disconnected from the public, in contrast with Connolly's people-fir...

Fianna Fáil’s hiring of Ivan Yates to help prep Jim Gavin for grillings during the presidential election rate has sparked (or perhaps fanned) tensions with Fine Gael. Then there's the broader questions about media transparency and political training (and let's not forget: who Matt Cooper's new podcast co-host will be?). Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy unpack the pas...

John Collison, billionaire Stripe co-founder, lobbed a political bombshell in the direction of Kildare Street with a 2,500-word Irish Times think piece (manifesto, perhaps). Is it a bold vision or simply Silicon Valley naivety? Sinead O’Carroll, Christina Finn, and Rónán Duffy break down the response to Collison’s 'Make Politicians Powerful Again' call, from ministers nodding along to critics poin...

Catherine Connolly’s presidential victory was more than decisive (but we're not going to call it stonking because Christine hates that word). In this post-election episode, the team unpack what went so right for Connolly, and but where to even begin about where it went wrong for Heather Humphreys? Between Fine Gael’s incoherent campaign and the truly remarkable scale of spoiled votes, this race wa...

With just days to go before the public go to the polls, we sit down with presidential candidate Catherine Connolly. She joins Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews, and Rónán Duffy in studio for a wide-ranging conversation. We delve into her campaign so far - its origins, its controversies, and its future. We look ahead to after the election, and whether the movement she has built up has...

We're turning the corner into the final stretch of the presidential election. Catherine Connolly is pulling ahead in the polls, and it's starting to look a lot like Heather Humphrey's campaign just hasn't landed - and she's running out of time to change that. Christine Bohan, Christina Finn, Jane Matthews and Rónán Duffy unpack a (somewhat) turbulent week of resignations and pointed remarks, from...