Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· Israeli strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure marked an escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran. With global oil and gas prices climbing, could we soon see Government measures to offset the cost to consumers?

· Opposition parties were less than impressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s showing during his St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump, but the world’s media praised Martin’s polite pushback on certain points.


· The demolition of an illegally-built Co Meath home has captured the public imagination this week. It has served to highlight the urban-rural divide when it comes to one-off housing during the current housing crisis.

· And the monthly payments to those housing Ukrainian people in their spare rooms will be wound down over the coming year.

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

· Ronnie Delaney’s Olympic gold medal win inspires Frank McNally to victory, the generational talent of Oscar winner Jessie Buckley, and the enduring fascination around JFK jnr.
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Taoiseach Michel Martin has been meeting US president Donald Trump as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day pageantry. Martin once again faced the challenge of outlining Ireland’s positions on issues from tariffs to wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran while maintaining his personal dignity and without antagonising Trump to Ireland's detriment. It was no easy task, with the US president criticising UK prime minister Keir Starmer, attacking Europe on its migration and energy policies and misgendering President Catherine Connolly. So how did Martin do? Pat Leahy reports from Washington.
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Ellen Coyne and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s St Patrick’s Day visit to The White House to meet US president Donald Trump could prove awkward should he face questions about the US and Israel’s military action against Iran, and its impact on the Middle East, Gulf regions and soaring fuel prices. Last year’s meeting was a minefield to be navigated – perhaps Martin has learned from that experience.

· A far less fraught meeting took place on Friday when the Taoiseach welcomed Britain's prime minister Keir Starmer to the UK-Ireland summit at Fota House in Cork. Security and co-operation were the order of the day, as Anglo-Irish relations continued to improve from a post-Brexit low.

· And the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided this week, after a mere fifteen years, not to bring criminal charges against anyone arising from the Moriarty tribunal’s final report in 2011. Michael Lowry and Denis O’Brien no doubt welcomed the decision.

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

· The brave and anonymous women we all owe a debt, the beef between farmers and Government, and Patrick Freyne’s golden age of male role models.
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As war in the Middle East rages on, the world's superpowers are making diplomatic representations to end it, and contingencies to protect their economies from the knock-on effects, namely oil and natural gas prices.

China, which buys oil from Iran, would rather the conflict hadn’t begun and would like to see it concluded, according to Irish Times Beijing correspondent Denis Staunton. However its reliance on foreign oil is small in comparison to other nations.

On today's podcast Hugh is joined by Denis and Political Editor Pat Leahy who says European governments, including Ireland, have a much greater problem with the volatility of the energy markets.

The Irish government was one of the few incumbent European governments that was re-elected after the volatility brought on by the war in Ukraine. How will European politicians handle the Iran war challenge?

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The Irish-American experience fitted seamlessly into the story of the United States as a “nation of immigrants”. In the Trump era that narrative has fallen out of favour. Family ties are weakening over time and the old political associations are changing too. So where does that leave our relationship with the 38.5 million Americans who ticked “Irish” in the last US census?

On today’s Inside Politics podcast Professor Liam Kennedy talks to Hugh Linehan about how Irish American identity has changed over the decades, how traces of it persist through popular culture and the contrast between the liberalism of Joe Biden and the nationalism of Steve Bannon. They also discuss the "soft power" of the Irish-American relationship, as exemplified by the shamrock ceremony that takes place next week in Washington, and whether it too is on the wane.

Professor Liam Kennedy is director of the Clinton Institute for American Studies at University College Dublin.
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