{"podcast":{"title":"Irish Times Inside Politics","slug":"irish-times-inside-politics-170288","podcast_index_feed_id":170288,"rss_url":"http://feeds.feedburner.com/irish-times-politics","website_url":"http://www.irishtimes.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6155db9059a3fa00137f30a9/1784627000904-f83ef9b4-de0a-40ee-8563-37b26a0853db.jpeg","author":"The Irish Times (news@irishtimes.com)","episode_count":1050,"summary":"The best analysis of the Irish political scene featuring Irish Times journalists, political thinkers and the occasional politician. Hosted by Hugh Linehan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T02:17:08.301765+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-times-inside-politics-170288"},"episode":{"title":"Aughinish Alumina is proving to be a real diplomatic headache","slug":"aughinish-alumina-is-proving-to-be-a-real-diplomatic-headache","published_at":"2026-07-03T14:22:34+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-times-inside-politics-170288/aughinish-alumina-is-proving-to-be-a-real-diplomatic-headache","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-times-inside-politics-170288","url":"https://shows.acast.com/inside-politics-2/episodes/aughinish-alumina-is-proving-to-be-a-real-diplomatic-headach","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6155db9059a3fa00137f30a9/e/6a47c5a704fac73b24bb9280/media.mp3","summary":"Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: ·       Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union got off to a slightly awkward start at the opening ceremony at Dublin Castle on Wednesday when guest Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned against “material emanating from a plant in Ireland” being used in Russia’s war effort. The Ukrainian president didn’t name Aughinish Alumina, but his feelings were clear. ·       Dozens of solicitors walked out of District Court rooms on Wednesday in protest against a new pay system for legal aid. This marked an escalation in tensions with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan who has pushed the reform through. ·       The Government are not going to act on Oireachtas committee recommendations on the decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use. ·       And as the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, how has the country lived up to the principals and aspirations of its founding fathers? 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.","meta_description":"Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: · Ireland’s presidency of…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3665,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/irish-times-inside-politics-170288/episodes/aughinish-alumina-is-proving-to-be-a-real-diplomatic-headache/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-times-inside-politics-170288/aughinish-alumina-is-proving-to-be-a-real-diplomatic-headache.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}