Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Pat Leahy and Ellen Coyne join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has come out this week to demand the Rotunda maternity hospital withdraw permission for consultants on public-only contracts to practise privately on its premises. If not, it could have its funding pulled.

· An investigation by Swedish tax authorities alleges that Oligarch and Vladimir Putin associate Oleg Deripaska, who is under EU sanctions over his role in supporting the invasion of Ukraine, still controls Rusal, the company that owns the Co Limerick industrial plant Aughinish Alumina.

· And an explosive interview from Michael Healy-Rae on Radio Kerry detailed how he was “pulled overboard” by his brother and fellow Independent TD Danny, resulting in him resigning his position as minister of state. Could the rift see the brothers run against each other in the next general election?

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

· The joy of your first World Cup, the Leaving Cert is a tough but valuable experience, and Andy Burnham’s byelection test in a Reform stronghold.
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Pat joins Hugh after interviewing Fianna Fáil's Darragh O'Brien about major issues related to his twin ministries, Transport and Climate, Energy and the Environment. They listen back to the interview and discuss what O'Brien had to say about a new scrappage scheme to encourage the purchase of EVs, Ireland's certain failure to hit its legally-binding emissions targets in 2030 and the financial cost to the state of that failure.

They also discuss data centres and the future of Fianna Fail's leadership after a disappointing showing in the recent byelections.
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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· The left-wing alliance that was formed during Catherine Connolly’s presidential campaign is already straining, with the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit concerned with the policy direction of Sinn Féin on issues like migration and reproductive rights.

· Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins was not impressed by left-leaning voters neglecting to supply party candidate Noel Thomas with enough transfers to prevail in the recent Galway West byelection. Perhaps those voters did not want to give Thomas a preference given his far from left-leaning stance on immigration.

· The omission of services from the Occupied Territories Bill, which targets Israeli imports produced from Palestinian lands, came as a surprise to no one. After many months of mulling it over, the Taoiseach was accused by Opposition parties of reneging on promises to prohibit all trade with settlements. Government can expect many calls for amendments when it is brought to Oireachtas in the coming weeks.

· And the building of one-off rural housing could become easier with plans to relax the rules for rural housing, aimed at allowing for increased supply, expected to be brought to Cabinet next month.

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RTÉ has been in the news again lately thanks to renewed controversy over payments to presenters. So it is a timely moment for the release of a new book on the institution. RTÉ: Saints, Scholars, and Scandals is the latest work by former TD, minister and journalist Shane Ross, who brings his dual experience of media and politics to bear on this unwieldy subject.

He talks to Hugh about the deep roots of RTÉ's structural problems, Fianna Fáil's dominance of RTÉ throughout its history (exemplified by Gay Byrne's cozy relationship with Charles Haughey) and the damaging recent scandals over payments and governance.

He tells Hugh the frustration politicians feel over negative coverage is the reason cash-strapped RTÉ has not enjoyed a licence fee increase since 2008.

Ross also talks about how illness (he is recovering from throat cancer) derailed the book for a few years.
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Journalist and author Helen Lewis has built a reputation for sharp analysis of politics, culture and the forces reshaping public life.

In one piece for The Atlantic she unpicks policies, and the figures promoting them, arguing against some rights for women.

On today’s podcast Helen tells Hugh about influential figures who would once have been considered “fringe” coming to the fore.

She explains why questions around women’s rights and gender identity have become so politically explosive, and how media and politics have become entangled in a cycle of outrage and performance.
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