Inside Politics The Irish Times

Hugh is joined by Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn to look back on the week in politics:

The conviction of former US president Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels is unprecedented in American political history. But will it make any difference on election day?
More evidence emerged this week that Ireland is failing to meet legally-binding climate change targets.
Will a scandal that engulfed Fine Gael local election candidate Marian Agrios dent the party outside of Louth, or even her Drogheda constituency?
Plus, the panelists pick their favourite IT reads of the week:

Our new columnist Mark O’Connell on why students keep schtum when asked why they are protesting.
Revelations that the Irish State is in the pocket of Big Smoky Bacon.
Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder criticises President Higgins.
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Hugh Linehan is joined by Harry McGee, Cormac McQuinn and Jennifer Bray who, after weeks travelling the highways and byways of Ireland in the company of hopeful local and European election candidates, are here to answer questions about what is happening on the ground. Do rural voters really blame the Greens for everything? Are Sinn Féin really struggling? Will the migration issue really help candidates like Niall Boylan? And what is the incredible new technique for reaching voters who aren't at home?



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Hugh Linehan is joined by Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn to discuss the week in politics:
 
·     Rishi Sunak’s decision on Wednesday to announce a snap election for July 4th, four months earlier than predicted, caught everyone off guard. Will it prove to be a gamble worth taking?
 
·     Cormac was present at Fianna Fáil’s European election launch this morning where tensions boiled over as Senator Niall Blaney got into a public disagreement with Fianna Fáil leader, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, over the level of support he was getting from the party amid their three-candidate strategy in the Midlands North-West constituency.
 
·     And on Friday, June 7th – the same day voters across the country will elect representatives to local councils and the European Parliament – the people of Limerick will decide who will be the country’s first directly elected mayor. But what powers will the successful candidate have to go with their €154,000 salary?
 
And the panel pick their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
·     Laura Slattery writes about “king of the airwaves” Pat Kenny.
 
·     The passing of Ireland’s first business superstar, Tony O’Reilly.
 
·     Pedestrians best be on their guard against the quiet threat of electric vehicles as outlined by Shauna Bowers.

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It's been a busy 24 hours on the domestic political scene, with the leaking of a report that is highly critical of Government housing policy and the news that Ireland is to recognise Palestine as a state. Political Editor Pat Leahy is here to analyse the significance of these developments. After that, Jack Power reports from Brussels where a slate of newly-elected far-right and nationalist MEPs are expected to arrive after next month's election. What will it mean for the balance of power within the European Parliament?
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The upcoming US election will see a presidential rematch for the first time since Eisenhower and Stevenson in 1956. That contest is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the two most unpopular candidates in living memory. But who is likely to prevail once the votes are finally counted?
In a special live event last week, Head of Polling at Ipsos US, Cliff Young, joined Hugh Linehan to dig into some of the big questions that have defined the presidential race thus far.
Why is Joe Biden performing so poorly in the polls? Why have so many minority voters who would traditionally have voted Democrat, decided to make the move towards the Republican party? And despite his legal woes, does Trump’s anti-establishment stance still retain its potency?
And in terms of what issues are front and centre for US voters, Cliff explains why it’s the economy, more specifically inflation, that is having a ‘nasty effect on the political calculus’. But can that be changed in any significant way before election day?
Produced by Declan Conlon.

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Hugh Linehan is joined by Cormac McQuinn and Jennifer Bray to discuss the week in politics:
 
·     The last fortnight has seen several incidents of councillors being verbally and physically attacked while out canvassing for the forthcoming local elections. A disturbing trend that hasn’t been a feature of previous elections.
·     The panel dig into what the Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll results say about the volatility of public opinion right now.
·     And neither current First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, or former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, came away from the UK Covid-19 inquiry unscathed.
 
And the panel pick their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
 
·     Ronan McGreevey writing 50 years on from the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.
·     Laura Kennedy does the arithmetic of emigration.
·     Stephen Collins writes of Micheál Martin’s political enemies  postponing their big move.


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