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Brendan O'Connor

The Newspaper Panel

31 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.87 - 22.499 Brendan O'Connor

Good morning, you're very welcome to the show. I have a spirited panel here ready to go. We'll have a look at the front pages of the papers first. The Sunday Independent is dealing with Cairns rules out formal left-wing pact for next election. that's, of course, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who's very much the woman of the moment in the papers today.

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23.521 - 27.706 Brendan O'Connor

So she's saying her party will not enter a formal left wing alliance ahead of the election.

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Chapter 2: What are the main stories highlighted in this week's newspapers?

27.746 - 41.884 Brendan O'Connor

It'll be a vote left, transfer left kind of soft request. Party officers are also starting work on even stronger deal breakers for government negotiations three years ahead of the general election. So I'm

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Chapter 3: How is Holly Cairns impacting the political landscape ahead of the next election?

41.864 - 62.424 Brendan O'Connor

That sounds to me like they're not gagging to get into government, but they are because Holly Cairn says the party will be vying for a turn in a rotating Taoiseach agreement. The Business Post has an exclusive. McDonald feels heat as Sinn Féin slumps four points. So that's a poll they have and we'll come back to that.

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63.105 - 88.883 Brendan O'Connor

The Sunday Times are leading with a piece about a damning 66-page dossier concerning St. Vincent's Hospital. The Sun on Sunday is leading with Kielty's late, late clash. They're saying that Patrick Kielty wants the Late Late Show to go back to its hard hitting roots before agreeing to sign a new contract with RTE. He seeks a return to the days of Gay Burn, according to this piece.

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89.223 - 111.368 Brendan O'Connor

And a source said he wanted to go hard again and tackle serious subjects. And he's got the balls to do it. The Mirror is leading with that Joe O'Reilly who is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, Rachel Calloway. celebrated graduating his open university course in business at Midlands Prison.

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111.728 - 132.916 Brendan O'Connor

He was allowed to mark the occasion, according to this story, with a special visit to the jail by his family and girlfriend. And they're saying that DJ Kerry is also back at school in jail. And the Sunday World, Freddie's family fight club, bizarre row over dog led to mass brawl between relatives of fat Freddie Thompson and Kinnahan gangster Paul Gray.

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133.176 - 155.102 Brendan O'Connor

OK, so our panel this morning, Dan O'Brien is chief investigator economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs. Sarah Kerry is a columnist with the Irish Independent. Lorna Fitzpatrick is director and co-founder at Fenton Fitzwilliam. And Oisín Coughlan is a public policy advisor. Good morning, everyone. Morning, Brendan. And Dan, Commiserations, you're an Arsenal fan.

156.444 - 158.406 Brendan O'Connor

That was a cruel ending.

158.386 - 175.753 Dan O'Brien

Yeah, penalties always are. I know Arsenal Football Club's a minority interest, so I won't linger on it. But as a kid, trembling with excitement, getting Liam Brady's autograph. Back in those days, there were a lot of Irish players who played for Arsenal. I've been a fan ever since. Came extremely close last night. Ended on penalties, but that's sport.

175.97 - 192.309 Brendan O'Connor

Yeah. Camille, as an economist, would you have any observations on what was the culture of excellence in Arsenal that got them their first premiership in what, 20, more than 20 years and that nearly got them victory last night?

192.649 - 213.812 Dan O'Brien

Well, their manager, a guy called Mikel Arteta, just seems to be a quite unusual guy and he's been very positive. And he's been given time unusually these days, and he's been in the job now for six or seven years. And they haven't won the premiership in 20 years, 22 years, and they did this year. So he was given the time to build, and he's a methodical sort of guy.

Chapter 4: What controversies surround Sinn Féin's recent polling decline?

230.135 - 243.675 Dan O'Brien

They're owned by the Qataris, who have more money than God. And they bought Paris Saint-Germain and spent a fortune on it, and that's turned them around. So money does matter, but just exactly how much it matters and how much it's down to managerial genius.

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243.655 - 248.323 Brendan O'Connor

Okay, so you think in the case of Arsenal, one man, potentially.

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249.084 - 255.074 Dan O'Brien

It's interesting, isn't it? He's certainly made a difference. He's been given a long time to go at it without fear of being fired.

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255.335 - 279.417 Brendan O'Connor

Okay, okay. Let's get into slightly more fractious soccer matters. Oisín, you were looking at Eoin O'Malley in the Sunday Independent. EU action against Israel would be a far wiser course than the Occupied Territories Bill, but what he talks about a good bit in this piece is the football matches between Ireland and Israel.

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279.397 - 296.259 Oisín Coghlan

Yes, the article is actually more about the football match than it is about the OTB, but we might come back to the OTB. And he's basically saying, how can we be consistent about this Qatar, who Ireland is playing this week, have an appalling human rights record and there's nothing like the same level of concern among the Irish public.

296.539 - 312.702 Oisín Coghlan

But on the other hand, obviously, there's a huge concern about Israel coming to play on the 4th of October. And he's saying, you know... will this be in the interest of Ireland? What might the repercussions be? But he also points out that the Dunstor's strike against apartheid goods from South Africa in the 1980s did have an effect.

313.303 - 334.1 Oisín Coghlan

And I think, I don't know if anyone saw Richard Sadley speak after the match on Thursday, saying the Israeli flag would be flying from that pole over there. And obviously we saw recently Ben Gavir, the security minister in Israel, wave the Israeli flag over activists from all around Europe having them in stress positions on the floor, taunting them for being activists trying to bring aid to Gaza.

334.12 - 354.123 Oisín Coghlan

So I think it's just inappropriate for Ireland to host Israel here and play football against them when there's still the aftermath of a genocidal campaign in Gaza. There's still an invasion of Lebanon happening as we speak. There's settlement in the West Bank. There's violence in the West Bank. There's been blacklisted by the UN this week for using sexual violence in conflict.

354.604 - 377.48 Oisín Coghlan

It's just there has to be a line. Israel has crossed it. And I don't think we can sit back and play football against them in those circumstances. OK. And Qatar have not crossed that line. Look, I don't think Qatar... I thought the football World Cup in Qatar was a mistake. I think it's the plan to go to Saudi Arabia. Football is being corrupted by money to a significant degree.

Chapter 5: How do the panelists view the implications of the Israeli football match in Ireland?

1068.414 - 1091.985 Brendan O'Connor

Dan O'Brien, Sarah Carey, Lorna Fitzpatrick, Oisín Coughlan and the atmosphere in the room is electric. And... We're going to talk next about. OK, so look, Holly Cairns, the sock downs, the fallout from the from the by elections, Sinn Féin, everything all over all the papers. There is a poll in the business post, which I will just give us first as context to this conversation.

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1092.365 - 1120.896 Brendan O'Connor

So look again, all the qualifications, it's snapshot in time. There's a margin of plus or minus three percent in all these polls. Bear that in mind. Red Sea interviewed a sample of 1,010 adults age 18 plus online between the 22nd and 27th of May, right? And these are the results. Sinn Féin, according to this poll, is down 4% at 21%, still the biggest party. Fine Gael is up 1% at 17%.

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1121.136 - 1147.095 Brendan O'Connor

Fianna Fáil is down 1% at 15%. Independence down 1% at 11%. The Social Democrats are up 2% at 10%. Independent Ireland stayed the same at 7%, Aintoo up 1% at 7%, Labour stayed the same at 4%, People Before Profit Solidarity up 1% at 4% and the Greens staying the same at 3%.

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1147.075 - 1171.224 Brendan O'Connor

Lorna, you were looking at that front page of the Sunday Independent Aisling Maloney's interview with Holly Cairns, where she's ruling out a formal left-wing PAC for the next election. So now, just to say you're a member of the Labour Party. The left haven't been able to get it together in this country in decades.

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1171.425 - 1177.69 Brendan O'Connor

And when they have a moment of opportunity here, they're now squabbling over who is left and who isn't like.

1177.91 - 1190.441 Lorna Fitzpatrick

Yeah. And look, I think there's a couple of things to bear out of this, right? Yvonne, obviously, this week came out and called for a kind of pact around the by-election for the Shannon seat and Holly's reaction.

1190.961 - 1196.826 Brendan O'Connor

OK, so just to explain to people who might have been paying attention to this. Yvonne Batrick wanted who in that pact?

1196.806 - 1208.51 Lorna Fitzpatrick

So Ivana Bacik contacted Holly Cairns and the Green Party, Roderick O'Gorman, in relation to having an initial conversation around a potential shared candidate for the by-election seat.

1208.55 - 1215.304 Brendan O'Connor

So that is Ivana Bacik's view of what the Left Alliance constitutes at the moment. Labour, the Social Democrats and...

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