Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

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

· The findings of the Irish Times/TG4 opinion poll on first preference votes, carried out by Ipsos B&A, suggests three leading candidates in the Galway West byelection. It shows Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) at 17 per cent followed by Noel Thomas (Independent Ireland Party) on 16 per cent and Helen Ogbu (Labour) on 12 per cent.

· In Dublin Central, candidate and veteran criminal Gerry Hutch rejected claims that recent comments he made about immigrants were racist. In a social media post on Sunday Hutch said, “illegal immigrants”, including Somalis, who were “mooching” their way into the country, should be interned in the Curragh.

· And Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton’s recent confirmation that her department is facing a deficit of more than €500 million this year was dwarfed by the HSE’s decision to pause recruitment in non-frontline roles across significant parts of the country due to a projected €1 billion overspend this year.

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

· Mark Paul on nationalist-led administrations running Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Finn McRedmond is not a fan of ‘grotty’ Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, and Donald Trump’s boundless appetite for self‑memorialisation.
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Hugh Linehan hosts a live Inside Politics show in Galway’s Róisín Dubh with Pat Leahy, Ellen Coyne and Galway native Harry McGee ahead of the May 22nd Galway West byelection. Harry, fresh from his day of shadowing candidates on the canvass, profiles the constituency and what influences are at play in this huge electoral area, which spans urban, rural and Gaeltacht districts. The Irish Times politics team outlines why byelections are hard to predict, who the key candidates are, and what dynamics might shape the race; from Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas and the lingering impact of the fuel protests to the “vote left, transfer left” pact and Catherine Connolly’s influence. They also consider whether government candidates can break the usual byelection pattern, the Social Democrats’ momentum, and what the result could signal about longer-term shifts in Irish politics. Hugh also fields questions from our live audience, some of whom have travelled from as far away as Dundee in Scotland.
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Ellen Coyne and Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· There are now 14 candidates confirmed as running in Dublin Central and 17 candidates in Galway West in the upcoming byelections on May 22nd. And while it looks like a tussle between those representing centre-left parties in the capital, Independent Ireland councillor Noel Thomas already looks to be the frontrunner in Galway West.

· Sinn Féin are hopeful of a byelection win in leader Mary Lou McDonald’s own constituency of Dublin Central, not least because of reported unrest, albeit privately, over the party’s future direction under McDonald’s leadership.

· And the Government announced this week that it will begin a six-month process of withdrawing tourist and commercial accommodation housing up to 16,000 Ukrainians here from August, coupled with the winding down of the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme which will see the €600 monthly payment to hosts reducing to €400 in September and ceasing next March. What impact will this have on homeless figures and the number of integrated Ukrainians leaving the country?

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

· Gerry Hutch in sunny Lanzarote, the Ukrainian grandfathers fighting on the front line, and online misogynistic abuse thrives and proliferates.
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Fintan O’Toole talks to Hugh Linehan about Fianna Fáil as the party’s 100th birthday draws near. Fintan credits the party with helping create a vibrant Irish middle class - if only by accident. But in recent decades the party has undermined that legacy, he says, through short-sighted, reactionary politics and especially through its approach to home ownership.

They also discuss the recent fuel protests.
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Hugh is joined by Irish Times Washington correspondent Keith Duggan to talk about the dramatic events at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where an intrusion by a gunman interrupted what was supposed to be president Donald Trump's first appearance at the annual event where the worlds of politics, media and celebrity socialise.

They then talk about Trump's complicated and contradictory relationship with the media: his contempt for mainstream outlets, his hunger for their approval and his administration's pivot to podcasters and social media influencers during the 2024 campaign.

In part two they look at the evolution of conservative media figure Tucker Carlson and his recent public break with Trump over the Iran conflict.
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