Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan

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

· The posters are going up, and candidates are preparing their pitch, but could Sinn Féin come up empty-handed in both the Dublin Central (party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s constituency) and Galway West byelection when the votes are counted on May 23rd? And does a vote against Government no longer mean a vote for the republican party?

· Given how many prominent Irish politicians retire and become silent, perhaps former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s unguarded opinions should be viewed as refreshing. The recent release of his book Speaking My Mind and various podcast contributions point to someone unafraid to give their unvarnished opinion.

· And President Catherine Connolly made her first trip overseas, attending the Defence of Democracy conference in Spain. Traditionalists might argue her first visit abroad should have been to meet another head of state.

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

· Michael Jackson in Cork and the 10-year-old at his hotel, the ascent of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, and the cultural obsession with the 1990s.

Correction: In the course of a conversation about the aftermath of the fuel protests, Hugh Linehan said that carbon tax is applied pro rata to the price of fuel. That is not correct. Carbon tax, as the name suggests, is calculated on the carbon emissions of a fuel, not the price. Therefore price fluctuations do not affect the rate of carbon tax which is charged.
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The country is moving on from the protests that dominated the national discussion over Easter, even as what the protests actually meant continues to generate debate.

Leo Varadkar poured more fuel on the fire by telling rural dwellers that, far from them being the backbone that holds up the country, it is their city cousins who pay all the bills. Could these events mark the start of deeper urban-rural divide in politics? It seems very possible the protests will be looked back on as an important step in Ireland’s political evolution, wherever that leads.

Today Hugh is joined by UCD political economy lecturer Michael Byrne and political correspondent Ellen Coyne to talk about what the events of April 2026 have revealed about Irish society, Irish politics and how Irish people look at democracy, protest and the urban-rural divide.

You can read Michael Byrne’s Substack blog on housing here.

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