Host Hugh Linehan is joined by Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones to look back on the week in politics:
· The budget was somewhat overshadowed this week by stories with far less cost involved, but no shortage of outrage – not least the final cost of Government Buildings security hut hitting €1.4 million and the row over the announcement of new sports capital grant funding for local clubs.
· Sinn Féin’s alternative budget has many worthy pledges but is ultimately futile without the party’s hands actually being on the levers of power.
· And the controversy around a letter of congratulations President Michael D Higgins sent in July to Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian was reignited at a United Nations event in New York last Sunday.
Get a dose of dosa: South Indian cuisine is having an Irish moment
Oscars 2025 red carpet: Ariana Grande sets the standard while Timothée Chalamet stood out in ‘Kerrygold’ yellow
Oscars 2025: Full list of winners as wild screwball comedy Anora takes five Academy Awards
‘Where I come from, people don’t do medicine. It’s not on your radar’: how a new generation of doctors is being trained
Plus, the panellists pick their favourite IT reads of the week:
· Michael McDowell on the Government’s advanced administrative sclerosis.
· Mark Hennesy wrote of former taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s contention that immigration numbers have risen too quickly here.
· And Mary Carolan’s piece on the use of ‘inappropriate’ slang and cultural references in a judgment concerning a Co Clare wind farm.
Produced by John Casey.
- Sign up for Politics push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
