{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6155db9059a3fa00137f30a9/6a5116aca410914b5857fed6?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Sinn Féin and Government on completely different timetables for Irish unity","description":"<p>Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:</p><p><br></p><p>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sinn Féin’s Planning for Constitutional Change Bill, which obliges the Government to draft and publish a Green Paper on unification within 18 months, failed to win support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, or independents. &nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All Government TDs also voted against a PBP Bill to ban hare coursing. The Bill presented an issue where the party whip could have been spared in favour of a free vote, given the public’s clear support to outlaw the practice. The Bill was overwhelmingly defeated by 125 votes to 24.</p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><p>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And this week saw Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and far-right French leader Marine Le Pen take the biggest political gambles of their respective careers.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:</p><p><br></p><p>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Graham Platner crashes and burns, dwindling swag bags for visiting journalists, and the derelict ‘Carlton’ site on O’Connell Street is snapped up by MetroLink.</p>","author_name":"The Irish Times"}