Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Jack Horgan-Jones to look back on the week in politics:

Away from the traffic disruption, security zones and high-level diplomacy of the European Political Community summit taking place at the Convention Centre on Dublin’s North Wall Quay, a meeting of greater jeopardy was unfolding at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on the outskirts of Dublin. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky met US envoys Jared Kushner and businessman Steve Witkoff to discuss ongoing Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations and receive a briefing on the envoys' earlier talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. All indications now point to Europe taking part in the next round of peace talks.

Amid the greeting of dozens of heads of state at the EPC summit, and excelling in his role as host, Micheál Martin displayed a rare moment of hesitation when discussing his future as Fianna Fáil leader. During a lengthy interview on Morning Ireland broadcasting from the summit, the Taoiseach didn’t dismiss talk of his leadership ending before the next general election with his usual certainty.

It was a good week for Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan as he can finally start to move on from the protracted dispute over a new legal aid payment model introduced in July with criminal defence solicitors to fully return to work as a deal was finally agreed. Another agreement of greater significance also happened this week as the €5bn pay deal got over the line, but Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said the Government would seek to invoke the review clause should the economy contract significantly.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
The phasing out of smoke flavourings, taxpayers’ money propping up greyhound racing, and a painful personal WWII story.
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Parts of Dublin will come to a near standstill this week as security ramps up for two major EU summits in the city centre on Thursday and Friday.

On today’s Inside Politics podcast our Europe correspondent in Brussels, Jack Power, and our political editor Pat Leahy explain what is at stake.

News of a breakthrough in talks between unions and the government over a public sector pay deal may have averted a ‘work to rule’ strike by Gardaí on Thursday which would have hampered security during the event.

Hugh also asks Pat and Jack to reflect on the prospect of eurosceptic far-right leaders being elected in France, Germany and Poland next year.

And Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair.
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Professor Bryan Fanning joins Hugh Linehan to discuss how Catholic thought shaped modern Ireland, the country’s changing attitudes to immigration and whether universities are becoming ideological echo chambers.

They also discuss the problem with AI in education, Ireland's long history of prejudice against Travellers and Fanning’s new memoir Ideologies Are Not your Friends.
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Jack Horgan-Jones and Theresa Reidy join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Ahead of Fine Gael’s ardfheis this weekend, a motion from the party’s executives to affirm its centre-right status was dismissed. How does Fine Gael move away from the “progressive centre” position it currently describes itself as occupying? After 15 years in power, it might prove an impossible task for the party to reinvent itself given how much compromise goes into being in Government.

A second one-day strike by public sector workers could happen next week after a pay offer of 7.75 per cent was rejected. Could a lack of relevant experience among Cabinet members be exposed as pay negotiations continue?

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was dealt a blow this week in his bid to resolve the criminal legal aid dispute after a High Court judgment on Tuesday, in which Judge Mary Rose Gearty upheld a challenge by solicitor John Quinn to the scheme.

And have the Democrats sweeping US midterm election victories signalled the dying days of Trumpism? Where does the Republican party go from here? And what real legislative power will the Democrats have with Donald Trump still in the White House?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
Supervalu fridges hacked, Bob Dylan meets the Pope, and outrage over Ger Gilroy’s alleged clothing allowance in his new RTÉ podcast gig.
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The US midterm results are in. Keith Duggan reports from Texas where Democratic nominee for US senate James Talarico has declared victory in the usually deep-red state. It is just one of the eye-catching Democratic victories on a historic night. Republicans have lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, with voters sending a clear message of disapproval to US president Donald Trump.
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