# Government can't help helping as fuel costs soar; and how many TDs are too many? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/government-can-t-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many-tds-are-too-many Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/government-can-t-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many-tds-are-too-many.md Podcast: [Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan](https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151) Published: 2026-03-27T15:46:37+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/inside-politics-2/episodes/government-cant-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6155db9059a3fa00137f30a9/e/69c6872c9b6be94a1ae920e7/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/episodes/government-can-t-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many-tds-are-too-many Duration seconds: 2806 ## Resource This week the Government decided to unveil a €250 million package to help citizens meet the elevated cost of fuel. And this could be just the start of a series of new efforts to keep down the cost of living. After ending such supports in the last Budget, it seems there is a limit to the Government’s ability to resist helping when times get tough and the money is there. But what will happen when a crisis coincides with tougher fiscal times?  The renewed threat of inflation is having an impact across the economic and political landscape. Inflation means unpredictable costs and that is especially bad for one key area. Other  Government  departments will be asked to bail out the  Department of Education , which is facing another large budget overspend this year. Will this request brew inter-departmental strife?  Our population is growing and our constitution stipulates there should be at least one TD for every 30,000 people. Should that rule be changed before we end up with excessive numbers of Deputies? Maybe - but a referendum on the issue is unlikely under this Government.  Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week, including Newton Emerson on an issue uniting left and right in Belfast, Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment and Malachy Clerkin’s report on Ireland’s heartbreaking loss against Czech Republic.  Would you like to receive daily insights into world events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Denis Staunton's Global Briefing newsletter here: irishtimes.com/newsletters/global-briefing/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/episodes/government-can-t-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many-tds-are-too-many/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/government-can-t-help-helping-as-fuel-costs-soar-and-how-many-tds-are-too-many.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.