Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

President Trump and his vast, costly entourage have rolled through Dublin on the way to his golf course, meeting with the Taoiseach and President Connolly along the way. As with other recent encounters between representatives of the State and Trump, there were no major diplomatic incidents for Irish officials to worry about. But Trump did ruffle some feathers with his comments on Irish reunification. "The Weave", as Trump calls his signature style of oratory, was on full display, by turns baffling, witty and terrifying. Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones were present at the various set-pieces and they join Hugh to recap on a colourful day.

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here.Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:Green leader Roderic O'Gorman has proposed a one-off €2.5bn energy fund, split between targeted energy credits and investment in grants for solar panels and EVs. It is one of few genuinely good ideas that emerged from the political party think-in season. Following Wednesday’s interview with Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers on the podcast, Pat assesses Chambers' political positioning in the run-up to Budget day. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan's tightening of naturalisation rules imposes a range of new requirements on those seeking citizenship. Are they fair? The UK is now leading the way on sanctions against illegal West Bank settlements. The haste is in contrast with Ireland's slow progress since 2018. Plus, what we now know about the timing and choreography of Donald Trump’s weekend visit. And finally the panel pick their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week. 

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here.Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers talks to Jack Horgan-Jones about pre-Budget negotiations, HSE overspending, childcare, infrastructure and more.He reveals that he intends to strip power over day-to-day spending from four HSE regions in response to what he describes as a "really poor performance" when it comes to controlling costs.He also responds to critical comments reportedly made by Cabinet colleagues over his unwillingness to grant their spending wishes.Then Hugh and Jack analyse the Minister's comments.

British journalist Paul Mason talks to Hugh about his new book Reds: A Global History of Communism.The book traces communism’s story from early human egalitarian impulses to modern China’s controlled capitalist system. Mason talks to Hugh about what drew him to Trotskyism as a young man, his current politics as a left-wing social democrat and his concerns about democracy under threat. He explains his own break with Corbynism. 

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here.Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:Labour’s annual think-in is happening in Galway and Pat is there to find out what the party is thinking up. The mood is positive. But with the rival Soc Dems riding high, Labour faces an uncertain future.One new measure being proposed by party finance spokesman Ged Nash is a €100 “shopping supplement” targeted at families over the winter months. Expect many more such proposals between now and Budget Day.Ireland’s skies and seas are being monitored by France and the UK while we hold the EU presidency. The Triple Lock, with legislation due to move through the Dáil, is a more pressing political issue - but the question of our meagre defence budget is another that will not go away. We still don’t have much detail on US president Donald Trump’s imminent visit to Dublin, but it seems the majority of his time will be spent at Trump Doonbeg or within the confines of the Phoenix Park. Opportunities for diplomacy may be limited by the fact that the trip is largely a US-taxpayer-funded marketing exercise for a golf course. But there are still risks and opportunities. Across the Irish Sea a Channel 4 News sting has exposed senior Reform UK officers allegedly scheming to get around campaign finance laws. The report dropped just in time to spoil the party’s conference and will add to the existing whiff of financial scandal around Nigel Farage’s political project. How much did Farage himself know and what impact will it have? Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times stories of the week.

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.

Hugh, Pat, Ellen and Jack took to the stage at Electric Picnic on Saturday to discuss politics and take some uestions from the audience. They discussed UK prime minister Andy Burnham's controversial comments on the possibility of a border poll before moving on to take stock of the political positions and futures of the Big Three party leaders: Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Here's an excerpt of their conversation. Thanks to Electric Picnic and MindField for having us.

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.

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here. Pat Leahy is joined by Ellen Coyne and Liz Carolan to talk about the response to the circumstances around the recent fatal M9 motorway crash. They examine Coimisiún na Meán’s response and the powers it has under the EU Digital Services Act, and the refusal of Tiktok to appear before a Dail committee. They consider proposals like making joyriding videos illegal and weigh up concerns about free speech and enforceability. In part two: the Government has u-turned on whether to pay for Skyclarys, a drug that treats Friedreich's ataxia, a rare neurodegenerative disease. Why did it take so long? Liz Carolan is a journalist, author and consultant. She writes The Briefing, a newsletter about technology and politics.