Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Parts of Dublin will come to a near standstill this week as security ramps up for two major EU summits in the city centre on Thursday and Friday.

On today’s Inside Politics podcast our Europe correspondent in Brussels, Jack Power, and our political editor Pat Leahy explain what is at stake.

News of a breakthrough in talks between unions and the government over a public sector pay deal may have averted a ‘work to rule’ strike by Gardaí on Thursday which would have hampered security during the event.

Hugh also asks Pat and Jack to reflect on the prospect of eurosceptic far-right leaders being elected in France, Germany and Poland next year.

And Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair.
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Professor Bryan Fanning joins Hugh Linehan to discuss how Catholic thought shaped modern Ireland, the country’s changing attitudes to immigration and whether universities are becoming ideological echo chambers.

They also discuss the problem with AI in education, Ireland's long history of prejudice against Travellers and Fanning’s new memoir Ideologies Are Not your Friends.
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Jack Horgan-Jones and Theresa Reidy join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Ahead of Fine Gael’s ardfheis this weekend, a motion from the party’s executives to affirm its centre-right status was dismissed. How does Fine Gael move away from the “progressive centre” position it currently describes itself as occupying? After 15 years in power, it might prove an impossible task for the party to reinvent itself given how much compromise goes into being in Government.

A second one-day strike by public sector workers could happen next week after a pay offer of 7.75 per cent was rejected. Could a lack of relevant experience among Cabinet members be exposed as pay negotiations continue?

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was dealt a blow this week in his bid to resolve the criminal legal aid dispute after a High Court judgment on Tuesday, in which Judge Mary Rose Gearty upheld a challenge by solicitor John Quinn to the scheme.

And have the Democrats sweeping US midterm election victories signalled the dying days of Trumpism? Where does the Republican party go from here? And what real legislative power will the Democrats have with Donald Trump still in the White House?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
Supervalu fridges hacked, Bob Dylan meets the Pope, and outrage over Ger Gilroy’s alleged clothing allowance in his new RTÉ podcast gig.
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The US midterm results are in. Keith Duggan reports from Texas where Democratic nominee for US senate James Talarico has declared victory in the usually deep-red state. It is just one of the eye-catching Democratic victories on a historic night. Republicans have lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, with voters sending a clear message of disapproval to US president Donald Trump.
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Pat Leahy and Naomi O’Leary join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

A new Government body is to be tasked with scoping out the models and challenges for different potential “constitutional futures” for the island, including a 32-county united Ireland. Is this proactive move a response to Irish unity being a priority issue among younger voters?

Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed he spoke to his Fine Gael party colleague Patrick O’Donovan some hours before the Minister for Culture recently fell ill at an EU conference in Limerick. Harris wouldn’t share details of the call but rejected any suggestion he threatened O’Donovan’s Cabinet position.

Dramatic election results played out in Serbia and Brazil where a youth movement and mobilised electorate brought about change. But the most consequential election happened in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and his right-wing ultra nationalist bloc defying pre-election predictions, and even exit polls, by winning the largest number of seats, but falling short of a majority.

And France has a very important election on the horizon too with the end of Emmanual Macron’s presidency next May. Right-wing populist Marine Le Pen looks well positioned to succeed Macron.
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