Irish Times Inside Politics

In his new novel A Nation Once Again, Paul Howard, best known for the Ross O'Carroll Kelly series, turns his satirical eye from wealthy South Dublin to an imaginary government department devoted to preparing for the reunification of Ireland. He talks to Hugh about how the concept allowed him to explore both the absurdity of the border's existence and the ridiculousness of trying to remove itThey discuss the book’s origins as a sitcom, how his experience as a child in Ireland with an English accent (Howard's family returned to Ireland when he was eight) helped him develop an ear for phonetic quirks and why Ireland's Call may be the perfect anthem for a United Ireland. 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.

Ellen Coyne and Jack Power join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics:·      All 27 EU foreign ministers will gather in Druids Glen in Wicklow next week for a “Gymnich” meeting. What is that you ask, it is characterised as a more informal chat with no expectation of any hard decisions being made. The lull of August will now give way to a hectic calendar culminating in difficult choices around the next seven-year EU budget.·      Andy Burnham made his first visit to Northern Ireland this week as UK prime minister. He raised eyebrows with his assertion that a Border poll is “off the table”. This won’t please Sinn Féin given the money and energy they are putting into making a vote on a united Ireland a reality.  ·      The Dáil sat briefly on Friday, where, among other topics of debate, it decided to vote against fuel price increases. The Government now further defers clawing back the cuts in excise taxes it announced earlier in the summer for two more months. Can it continue to shield the public from increasing fuel costs beyond November?Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:·      The unifying power of the late Dolly Parton, Scouting Ireland’s future, and CIA chief visits Moscow to urge a Ukraine war deal.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.

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here. Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:Today the Government announced that it will stall the planned increase to fuel excise duty that was due to come into effect at the start of September. The increases for September and October 1st will no longer go ahead. A recall of the Dáil next Friday to pass this measure is looking likely. The decision comes after the Government faced pressure from Coalition backbenchers as well as members of the Opposition. On Thursday night Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin demanding the Dáil be recalled for a vote to delay the planned reversal of excise duty cuts.Sunday’s tragic collision on the M9 motorway left five teenagers dead and three sisters and a 7-year-old child in serious condition. The tragedy raises questions about Garda pursuit capabilities and training and the responsibility of social media platforms like TikTok to respond to footage of dangerous driving and joyriding shared on the platform.An aide for Tánaiste Simon Harris has come into the spotlight after The Irish Times reported on social media posts where he mocked teachers for being work-shy and deemed the public “racist”. John Kelly is Harris’ constituency director who deleted his X account after he was questioned about numerous posts. Comments that are now deleted refer to Britain’s Prince Harry as a “snowflake” and call US president Donald Trump a “moron”.Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week, including the decline in number of Catholic baptisms in Ireland, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate leading the polls in Saxony-Anhalt election and the ridiculousness of “Woke 1.0”.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.

Jack Horgan-Jones and Ellen Coyne join Hugh to look back on the week in politics:Simon Harris has lobbied the European Commission over the prospect of Ireland's Central Bank once again being responsible for approving Israeli state bonds. Opposition parties have said the bonds are used to raise money for Israel's military campaigns. Ultimately, aside from some political messaging, it's an issue the Government can do little about.Excise cuts implemented in response to last spring's fuel protests are due to start tapering next month, just as fuel prices are beginning to rise again. With the disruptive protests still a painful memory and the Budget coming into view, Jack Chambers and Simon Harris are in an unenviable position. How will they play it?News that the Department of Children and Equality will spend money on a campaign to warn about the misogyny of the “manosphere” and “tradwife” influencers who “promote restrictive, stereotypical roles for women and girls” has enraged culture warriors and prompted a debate on the socioeconomic pressures that make working and caring in the home an impossibility for many families. Should the Government stay out of such debates and focus instead on structural issues that hold people back from living their lifestyle of choice?The Government's recent lack of transparency around two reports, one on Aughinish Alumina and another on data centres, left a lot to be desired.Entertaining documents released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act have cast light how two prominent pols - Mayor of Limerick John Moran and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan - go about their business.And finally the panel pick their favourite IT stories of the week.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.

In the second of three episodes on the rise and fall of the Progessive Democrats, Hugh and Pat pick up the story on the eve of the 1987 general election with the PDs riding a wave of energy and Fianna Fail's Charles Haughey chasing the overall majority that always eluded him.The party's first outing at the polls is a triumph: 12 per cent of the vote, 14 seats and third place ahead of Labour, much of it carved out of a collapsing Fine Gael. Haughey falls two seats short. Without O'Malley's new party, would he finally have had his majority?Instead, a minority Fianna Fáil government, propped up by Fine Gael's "Tallaght Strategy", embarks on savage spending cuts and commits to tax cuts, policies the PDs demanded.The PDs' successes bring a problem: when your opponents adopt your programme, what are you for? By 1989 the party is squeezed from both sides and in the next election it slumps to six seats. But again, no party wins a majority. This time the solution brings the PDs to power, changing Irish politics forever.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.

Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:It was revealed this week that the planned Dublin Metrolink could cost up to €19 billion. The last Metrolink estimates from 2022 suggested €9.5 billion as the midpoint of a “credible” cost range of between €7.16 billion and €12.25 billion. The increasing cost echoes the National Children’s Hospital and its umpteen budget increases – a saga that damaged the public’s trust in the State’s ability to deliver large necessary projects in a timely and cost-effective manner. The latest data from the Climate Change Advisory Council suggests the Government’s target of 400,000 heat-pump installations by 2030 is all but impossible at this stage. They are calling for a twentyfold increase in the pace of delivery, plus a surge in general home retrofits. The German chancellor Friedrich Merz was welcomed to Dublin by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Tuesday where he delivered a speech on the need for a more austere approach to the common EU budget. The decision to speak entirely in German was not helped by malfunctioning translation devices given out to the Taoiseach and those present.  The State has been urged to buy the lands of former Bessborough mother and baby home to create memorial park. This comes after planning permission was granted for more than 100 apartments on the Cork site. And more than 300 former members of the Christian Brothers will be summonsed through an advertisement in a national newspaper. The move was prompted by the fact that the Christian Brothers is an unincorporated association, meaning there is no legal entity that can be directly sued by people taking it to court.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.

Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:Budget season has already started with the Summer Economic Statement pointing to less cash being available for new spending measures in Budget 2027. Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers have announced that Government spending on infrastructure and services will increase by €7 billion next year to €125.5 billion. It seems that Government commitment of a maximum of €200 per child per month will have to wait a little longer.And while the Government stopped short of an outright ban on e-scooters, there will be new regulations coming into effect as early as next month that will extend the existing ban for under-16s to a ban for under-18s, and the mandatory wearing of helmets and high-visibility vests for everyone using an e-scooter. The end of private maternity care in publicly funded hospitals might be arriving sooner than expected with news this week that about 150 women have been turned away for private care by consultants at the National Maternity Hospital over the last six weeks.And it is all change in the annual RTÉ salary top ten as the on-air talent have been largely replaced in the list by ‘faceless executives’, with RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst occupying top spot. Who will think of the poor radio presenters?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.

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: the lack of growth in their economy. Proposed “reform” (read: scrapping) of the “triple lock” restriction on Irish overseas military deployment has run into trouble due to disquiet among Fianna Fail backbenchers. If not a rebellion, there was certainly “a renewed amount of grumbling” over the issue. But will it be a real problem for Taoiseach Micheal Martin? Plus the panel pick their IT stories of the week including a plea for underground bins, Michael McDowell’s bold predictions and the divestment of Catholic church patronage.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.