Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

As the day drew to a close in Israel on Tuesday, exit polls in the Knesset election suggested a lead for the bloc of parties opposing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

As the sun rose and official counts were declared a very different picture emerged showing a slender lead for Netanyahu’s bloc.

On today’s podcast, Hugh asks our contributor in Jerusalem, Mark Weiss, to explain where things stand as counting continues.

That lead enjoyed by the prime minister “changes the entire political picture”, he says.

A strong performance by parties representing Israel’s Arab citizens has come at the expense of smaller anti-Netanyahu parties, making it harder for some opposition groups to clear the electoral threshold and enter the Knesset.

“This has played into Netanyahu’s hands”, says Weiss.

Another long protracted negotiation looks likely but the leading opposition figure, Gadi Eisenkot, has already ruled out forming a government with the Israeli Arabs.

The question is will Netenyahu secure enough support to begin another term, or might another election be looming?

The answer is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Declan Conlon and JJ Vernon.
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It is one week out from US midterm elections with Democrats hoping to retake control of both the House of Representatives and the powerful Senate. Journalist and podcaster Galen Druke returns to Inside Politics to talk to Hugh Linehan about the state of play.

They look at the overall picture in the House of Representatives, which Democrats need just three seats to retake. Polls show that is likely but gerrymandering could limit their gains.

And they look at the contest for the governorship of Ohio, where one particularly egregious attack ad has drawn a backlash.

Plus: what the midterms can and can't tell us about the 2028 race to succeed Donald Trump, and how Galen's new podcast reunites a beloved old team.
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Pat Leahy and Sarah Burns join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

The Dail was dominated this week by debate over the Government’s proposal to end the Triple Lock. It’s a substantial political row with contradictions and ironies on both sides of the argument.

The attention of terminally online people all over the world was drawn to Ireland this week when a video published by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre went viral. The ad, part of a campaign “aimed at informing, educating and engaging the public about all forms of consent”, depicted a girl’s discomfort at receiving a hug from her grandparents. Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan swiftly denounced it. Did he need to?

Minister O’Callaghan is at the centre of this week’s other big story: the ongoing battle between the State and the legal profession over fees. as the consequences of the dispute for the functioning of the courts deepen, the stakes for O’Callaghan are high.

Plus the panelists pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week including Kathy Sheridan on the enduring role of the Catholic funeral, Justine McCarthy on Andy Burnham “declaring war” on inconsiderate commuters and Fintan O’Toole on antisemitism.
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The scenes at Drumcree in recent weeks revived memories of one of Northern Ireland’s most enduring disputes between unionist and nationalist communities.

But while the immediate controversy centred on a short stretch of road in Portadown, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who has spearheaded the campaign to secure a return of Orange Order members to the largely nationalist Garvaghy Road, believes the implications reach much further than a single parade.

On today’s podcast, Bryson tells Hugh that the unionist tradition has been “under siege” for decades and argues that it is time to “go on the offensive”.

“We’ve constantly been on the defensive and, in my view, that has emboldened an ever more aggressive nationalist push in terms of advancing their culture and their objectives,” he says.

Bryson has long been at the centre of debates over identity and culture in Northern Ireland. He came to prominence during the protests that followed Belfast City Council’s decision to limit the flying of the Union flag at City Hall, demonstrations that were marked by significant unrest.

More recently, he has been a vocal opponent of Irish-language policies and the introduction of dual-language street signs in parts of Belfast, which he argues have been imposed on unionist communities.

The Drumcree controversy, he says, reflects a broader struggle over culture and identity. “We’re going to do to you what you have done to us,” he says.
Bryson insists the ultimate objective is not dominance by either tradition. “Nationalists are not going to dominate unionists, and unionists are not going to dominate nationalists” he says.

“Eventually we will all come to the table once we’ve fought each other to exhaustion in a culture war”.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair and JJ Vernon.
For access to an exclusive episode of Inside Politics, please take our short survey at irishtimes.com/insidepolitics.
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Democracy rests on the promise that political institutions should reflect the people they serve. But in an era of growing social diversity, persistent inequalities and political polarisation, that promise is being contested.

On today’s podcast, Hugh heads to the Royal Irish Academy to speak to Pauline Cullen, Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University and Tània Verge Mestre, former Equalities Minister in the Catalan government in Spain.

Verge Mestre highlights the gender quota’s introduced in Spain in 2007 requiring political parties to have no less than 40% of either gender represented in its candidates.

Cullen said “we have some of the most imaginative forms of governance across Europe”.

“When we think about diversity in an Irish context and we think about gender equality, migrant integration, or traveller rights, we silo them in different government departments and we give them different funding streams” she added.

“We don’t create the conditions to think about these things in a joined up way”.

So how can politics be more representative? And why is Ireland lagging behind international comparisons?

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair and JJ Vernon.
For access to an exclusive episode of Inside Politics, please take our short survey at irishtimes.com/insidepolitics.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.