Hugh Linehan is joined by Pat Leahy and Harry McGee to look back at the week in politics. With our recent obsession on the local and European elections winding down, today we take a look at the week's Dáil debates and at the "guillotining through" of the huge piece of legislation that is the Planning Bill into its final stage. The panel also discus…

Nigel Carolan, the former Connacht academy manager and Ireland U20s head coach, joins The Counter Ruck from Glasgow. Now the Warriors' attack coach, Carolan faces off against Munster this weekend in the URC semi-final. He talks through his own coaching journey, his attacking philosophy as well as his own experience coaching a number of current Iris…

With some European seats still to be filled but the overall picture of these elections now fairly clear, Pat Leahy joins Hugh for a final episode of Election Daily to answer some outstanding questions. How did small parties including the Greens, the Social Democrats and Labour do in the end? And with counts dragging on, is it too easy for unserious…

Citizens of the EU used their votes in last week's elections to maintain centre-right control of the European Parliament, while shifting the overall makeup of the legislature a little further to the right. Brussels correspondent Jack Power joins Hugh to explore how the EU parliament has just changed, whether the new right will be able to form a vot…

Hugh Linehan is joined by Jennifer Bray and Cormac McQuinn on day four of the count. Only a handful of seats remain unfilled in the local elections with Fianna Fáil slightly ahead of Fine Gael for the majority of seats. Sinn Féin now has 100 seats which is an improvement on its disastrous 2019 election, however Jennifer Bray has reported on the gro…

Hugh Linehan is joined by Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn to discuss the latest developments: It is day three of the local and European election count and seats in all four MEP constituencies are still in play. In Dublin, much will depend on where votes from soon-to-be-eliminated candidates end up. Will Independent Ireland's Niall Boylan be able to ca…

As the count continues on this busy election weekend, it is delight for Taoiseach Simon Harris and Fine Gael as the local election picture becomes clearer, but the final results, particularly in the European contest, won’t be known for several more days. The Taoiseach had a pep in his step as he entered the count centre at the RDS today. Speaking t…

It is Saturday afternoon of a busy election weekend and while it is still far too early to draw conclusions about many aspects of the local and European contests, some trends are beginning to emerge. One of those trends is that Sinn Féin’s recent drop in opinion polls is being confirmed at the ballot box, the party’s support at these elections lowe…

As voters go to the polls, Hugh Linehan, Pat Leahy, and Jack Horgan-Jones make some final predictions about how the weekend will play out. Which European candidates should be safe in their constituencies, and who is at risk of being sucked into a days-long transfer battle to seize a third, fourth or fifth seat? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac…

Hugh Linehan is joined by Jennifer Bray and Sarah Burns to discuss Thursday on the campaign trail: With polling day almost upon us, some running in the European elections have been engaging in a ‘war of words’, with members of Fine Gael and the Green Party butting heads on the campaign trail. Is all this ‘clawing at each other’ simply a final bid f…

As they prepare to face Leinster this weekend in the URC quarter-finals, this week’s podcast reflects on Ulster’s uptick in fortunes since bringing in Richie Murphy as head coach. In turmoil after a poor league run and an early exit from Europe, Ulster parted ways with previous head coach Dan McFarland. Now under Murphy, the province has recovered …

Hugh Linehan is joined by Jennifer Bray and Pat Leahy to discuss Wednesday on the campaign trail: Independent candidates are “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, warned People Before Profit at a campaign event today. What does that mean, and why are the small parties so worried about the impact of this rag-tag category of opponent on election day? The Nit…

The run-in to Friday's local, European and Limerick mayoral elections is now underway and so is the daily elections podcast from The Irish Times. Hugh Linehan is joined by Jack Horgan-Jones and Harry McGee to look at the stories from the campaign trail: As Aontú launches its campaign, party leader Peader Toibin is bullish about the party's prospect…

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 …