# What's wrong with Ireland? Sinead O'Sullivan has an answer

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/what-s-wrong-with-ireland-sinead-o-sullivan-has-an-answer
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151/what-s-wrong-with-ireland-sinead-o-sullivan-has-an-answer.md
Podcast: [Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan](https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan-1630151)
Published: 2026-05-18T10:04:40+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/inside-politics-2/episodes/sinead-osullivan
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6155db9059a3fa00137f30a9/e/6a0ad7ebf37ac16f7c85a08b/media.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3246

## Resource

Economist and author Sinead O'Sullivan ruffled some feathers recently with her analysis of Ireland’s deficits in infrastructure and services. Her critiques of the State’s failure to deliver things that are taken for granted in other similarly wealthy countries sparked debate and drew pushback from figures including former taoiseach Leo Varadkar.  On today’s Inside Politics podcast she talks to Hugh about how her professional background in designing complex systems made it “ impossible for me not to see” the flaws she identifies in the Irish model. She argues that Ireland lacks strong institutions capable of separating long-term delivery from electoral politics, resulting in costly, short-term fixes.  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.

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## Transcript

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