# Foreign aid spending; HSE over budget; and invasive skunks in Co. Kildare

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare.md
Podcast: [Early Edition](https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837)
Published: 2026-09-04T03:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/early-edition/episodes/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/690b5df3317c91fd9a7765c9/e/6a9a0fbcbe980579613fa82c/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/early-edition-7571837/episodes/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare
Duration seconds: 576

## Resource

Ireland was one of only two European countries to increase spending on foreign aid last year, with €1.9 billion spent on official development assistance. The government has defended public transport fares rises, coming in January, saying it will help fund new services. The HSE remains significantly over budget, despite efforts to tighten spending controls across the health service. An investigation has begun into the release of seven invasive skunks in Co. Kildare, which were later captured.  Presented by Andrew McNair. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/early-edition-7571837/episodes/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.