{"podcast":{"title":"Early Edition","slug":"early-edition-7571837","podcast_index_feed_id":7571837,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/690b5df3317c91fd9a7765c9","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/early-edition","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/690b5df3317c91fd9a7765c9/1785238053453-a84c5898-6c1d-4043-95d8-e0a28a19929b.jpeg","author":"The Irish Times","episode_count":193,"summary":"A morning news update from The Irish Times. Our top stories five days a week. Produced in association with MSD. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-08T10:19:21.402731+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837"},"episode":{"title":"Foreign aid spending; HSE over budget; and invasive skunks in Co. Kildare","slug":"foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare","published_at":"2026-09-04T03:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837","url":"https://shows.acast.com/early-edition/episodes/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/690b5df3317c91fd9a7765c9/e/6a9a0fbcbe980579613fa82c/media.mp3","summary":"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.","meta_description":"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.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":576,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/early-edition-7571837/episodes/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/early-edition-7571837/foreign-aid-spending-hse-over-budget-and-invasive-skunks-in-co-kildare.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}