Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

This week the Government decided to unveil a €250 million package to help citizens meet the elevated cost of fuel. And this could be just the start of a series of new efforts to keep down the cost of living. After ending such supports in the last Budget, it seems there is a limit to the Government’s ability to resist helping when times get tough and the money is there. But what will happen when a crisis coincides with tougher fiscal times?

The renewed threat of inflation is having an impact across the economic and political landscape. Inflation means unpredictable costs and that is especially bad for one key area.

Other Government departments will be asked to bail out the Department of Education, which is facing another large budget overspend this year. Will this request brew inter-departmental strife?

Our population is growing and our constitution stipulates there should be at least one TD for every 30,000 people. Should that rule be changed before we end up with excessive numbers of Deputies? Maybe - but a referendum on the issue is unlikely under this Government.

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week, including Newton Emerson on an issue uniting left and right in Belfast, Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment and Malachy Clerkin’s report on Ireland’s heartbreaking loss against Czech Republic.
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Seán Lemass is remembered as the man who changed Ireland.

Several opinion polls have noted Lemass as the country's most admired taoiseach.

He never left any papers of autobiography, but rather twenty-two hours of private interviews.

Hugh speaks to Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy who has gathered these lost interviews and collated them into a memoir in Lemass's own words.

Produced by JJ Vernon and Andrew McNair.
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Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion pages of The Irish Times, where he is often critical of Ireland’s approach to Europe.

Recently he wrote that “Ireland’s recent hissy fit at not being invited to a pre-EU summit meeting in Belgium speaks volumes as to where Dublin ranks in the minds of our fellow EU members”.

On today’s podcast he talks to Hugh about how Ireland’s influence in Europe has declined, why he believes Ireland’s political discourse around Europe is naive and lacking strategic depth and what “two-speed” EU development could look like - with or without Ireland as a key player. He also talks about how Ireland is viewed as being "in the pocket of the US multinationals".
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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· Israeli strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure marked an escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran. With global oil and gas prices climbing, could we soon see Government measures to offset the cost to consumers?

· Opposition parties were less than impressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s showing during his St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump, but the world’s media praised Martin’s polite pushback on certain points.


· The demolition of an illegally-built Co Meath home has captured the public imagination this week. It has served to highlight the urban-rural divide when it comes to one-off housing during the current housing crisis.

· And the monthly payments to those housing Ukrainian people in their spare rooms will be wound down over the coming year.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

· Ronnie Delaney’s Olympic gold medal win inspires Frank McNally to victory, the generational talent of Oscar winner Jessie Buckley, and the enduring fascination around JFK jnr.
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Taoiseach Michel Martin has been meeting US president Donald Trump as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day pageantry. Martin once again faced the challenge of outlining Ireland’s positions on issues from tariffs to wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran while maintaining his personal dignity and without antagonising Trump to Ireland's detriment. It was no easy task, with the US president criticising UK prime minister Keir Starmer, attacking Europe on its migration and energy policies and misgendering President Catherine Connolly. So how did Martin do? Pat Leahy reports from Washington.
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