Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers talks to Jack Horgan-Jones about pre-Budget negotiations, HSE overspending, childcare, infrastructure and more.

He reveals that he intends to strip power over day-to-day spending from four HSE regions in response to what he describes as a "really poor performance" when it comes to controlling costs.

He also responds to critical comments reportedly made by Cabinet colleagues over his unwillingness to grant their spending wishes.

Then Hugh and Jack analyse the Minister's comments.

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British journalist Paul Mason talks to Hugh about his new book Reds: A Global History of Communism.

The book traces communism’s story from early human egalitarian impulses to modern China’s controlled capitalist system.

Mason talks to Hugh about what drew him to Trotskyism as a young man, his current politics as a left-wing social democrat and his concerns about democracy under threat. He explains his own break with Corbynism.
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Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here.

Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Labour’s annual think-in is happening in Galway and Pat is there to find out what the party is thinking up. The mood is positive. But with the rival Soc Dems riding high, Labour faces an uncertain future.

One new measure being proposed by party finance spokesman Ged Nash is a €100 “shopping supplement” targeted at families over the winter months. Expect many more such proposals between now and Budget Day.

Ireland’s skies and seas are being monitored by France and the UK while we hold the EU presidency. The Triple Lock, with legislation due to move through the Dáil, is a more pressing political issue - but the question of our meagre defence budget is another that will not go away.

We still don’t have much detail on US president Donald Trump’s imminent visit to Dublin, but it seems the majority of his time will be spent at Trump Doonbeg or within the confines of the Phoenix Park. Opportunities for diplomacy may be limited by the fact that the trip is largely a US-taxpayer-funded marketing exercise for a golf course. But there are still risks and opportunities.

Across the Irish Sea a Channel 4 News sting has exposed senior Reform UK officers allegedly scheming to get around campaign finance laws. The report dropped just in time to spoil the party’s conference and will add to the existing whiff of financial scandal around Nigel Farage’s political project. How much did Farage himself know and what impact will it have?

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times stories of the week.
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In his new novel A Nation Once Again, Paul Howard, best known for the Ross O'Carroll Kelly series, turns his satirical eye from wealthy South Dublin to an imaginary government department devoted to preparing for the reunification of Ireland. He talks to Hugh about how the concept allowed him to explore both the absurdity of the border's existence and the ridiculousness of trying to remove it

They discuss the book’s origins as a sitcom, how his experience as a child in Ireland with an English accent (Howard's family returned to Ireland when he was eight) helped him develop an ear for phonetic quirks and why Ireland's Call may be the perfect anthem for a United Ireland.
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Hugh, Pat, Ellen and Jack took to the stage at Electric Picnic on Saturday to discuss politics and take some uestions from the audience. They discussed UK prime minister Andy Burnham's controversial comments on the possibility of a border poll before moving on to take stock of the political positions and futures of the Big Three party leaders: Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Here's an excerpt of their conversation.

Thanks to Electric Picnic and MindField for having us.
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