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Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

The best analysis of the Irish political scene fe…

The best analysis of the Irish political scene featuring Irish Times journalists, political thinkers and the occasional politician. Hosted by Hugh Linehan.

Latest episode

  • Can 'technocratic daddy' Mark Carney solve Canada's deep-rooted problems?

    40:48|
    Canadian journalist Jen Gerson joins Hugh to talk about the results of Monday's federal election, which confirmed the once-unlikely comeback of the Liberal party led by former central banker Mark Carney. Gerson explains the unique challenges facing this vast, dispersed country whose relationship with its closest ally - the USA - has collapsed since the election of Donald Trump.

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  • Will there be a teacher’s strike in the autumn?

    45:36|
    Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Thoughts now turn to the election of his successor and whether they will be viewed to be as tolerant and progressive as the late pontiff. ·       Minister for Education Helen McEntee has her work cut out for her to keep secondary school teachers onside with both the Teacher’s Union of Ireland and the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland voting to ballot on industrial action if plans to reform the Leaving Certificate from this September are not paused. ·       And the Government has told RTÉ that State funding of more than €60 million for its redundancy plan will hinge on the broadcaster hitting yearly targets as it reduces its headcount. Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:·       Bill Clinton on a polarized America 30 years on from the Oklahoma bombing, Ireland needs to tread carefully with the EU on tariffs, and have we reached an empathy crisis? 
  • How the Dublin Riots can be traced back to the Blueshirts

    56:40|
    Cork-based author Pádraig Óg O'Ruairc joins Hugh Linehan to discuss his new book 'Burn Them Out; a history of fascism and the far right in Ireland’. He argues a line can be drawn directly between the far-right and, in the case of the Blueshirts, openly fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s and the Dublin riots of 2023. Ó'Ruairc objects to the Irish exceptionalism many feel in having largely escaped the xenophobic populism seen elsewhere in Europe, arguing we have a long history of 'looking the other way' when it comes to confronting a pervasive and enduring fascist undercurrent.'Burn Them Out' is available now.
  • Naomi Klein on conspiracies, climate and the 'personal brand'

    44:34|
    This episode was first published in October 2023. Naomi Klein shot to fame with her first book, No Logo, which offered an acute critique of how powerful corporations in the 1990s had profited off exploitation in a globalising world. Her later books have examined a range of subjects including crisis capitalism, militarism, and climate change. Klein is also commonly confused online for a very different writer, Naomi Wolf, who has called Covid-19 vaccine programmes ‘mass murder’. In Klein's latest book Doppelganger she draws on this unwanted comparison to explore themes like online identity, conspiracy theories and the 21st Century supremacy of the ‘personal brand’. 
  • Fine Gael slumps as Sinn Féin returns to top spot in our poll

    18:43|
    Pat Leahy and Harry McGee analyse the latest Irish Times / Ipsos B&A poll results, which show that Sinn Féin has regained its position as the most popular party in the Republic while Fine Gael has slumped to a record low in the series. The new data also show voters have little enthusiasm for the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent Coalition.
  • Will Europe cave to Trump's trade demands?

    22:42|
    Cliff Taylor joins Pat Leahy to assess the latest developments in the trade war initiated by US president Donald Trump that threatens to upend the global economy.
  • How Morgan McSweeney put Keir Starmer in power

    36:39|
    As the head of an organisation called Labour Together, which despite its name '"was all about dividing the Labour party and defeating the left", Irishman Morgan McSweeney handpicked Keir Starmer as the leadership candidate to take on Jeremy Corbyn and the party's left wing in 2020. That is according to Patrick Maguire, co-author of Get In, an entertaining book about Starmer's road to Number 10 and McSweeney's accumulation of power behind the scenes. He talks to Hugh about McSweeney's talent, Starmer's leadership and why the Labour government is struggling to get its message across.Get In by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund is available now.