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Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan
'Sorry' doesn’t seem to be the hardest word for Government
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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:
· In the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin issued an apology on behalf of the State to survivors of abuse in industrial and reformatory schools. Nobody doubts the sincerity of such apologies, but given the number of them over the years, perhaps their rhetoric should be matched with the practicalities and supports survivors need.
· With the Residential Tenancies Bill comes into effect from March 1st, Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty was accused of “scaremongering and misinformation” by Tánaiste Simon Harris in the Dáil on Thursday. Doherty pointed to research carried out by I-Res Reit, the State’s largest corporate landlord, which suggested a potential increase in rent returns of up to 25 per cent resulting from the new rent rules. The new rules are designed to attract new investors into the rental property sector, and what could be more attractive than charging higher rents?
· The glacial speed at which vital infrastructure projects such as the Greater Dublin Drainage Project are delivered here could be accelerated by the establishment of a new Infrastructure Regulatory Simplification Unit in Minister for Public Expenditure and Infrastructure Jack Chambers’s department.
· And the upcoming byelections in Dublin Central and Galway West, with seats vacated by Paschal Donohoe and Catherine Connolly respectively, are looking increasingly hard to call.
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55:57|How Ireland Voted is a regular publication featuring academic analysis of Irish elections. The latest edition looks at the 2024 general election and features an essay by Gail McElroy and Stefan Müller that puts party manifestos under the microscope, identifying which topics get the most attention and where the parties line up from left to right. The analysis suggests a major leftward shift in Irish politics over the past decade. Why has this happened, and who is filling the gap this move has left on the right of the political spectrum?Gail and Theresa Reidy, who edited the book, talk to Hugh and Pat about what the analysis tells us about Irish politics. They also talk about candidate selection practices, which is the subject of Theresa's own essay.Gail McElroy is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity College, Dublin. Theresa Reidy is a professor in the Department of Government and Politics at University College Cork.John Mearsheimer: Why Europe still needs the USA
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