Plus, where did €19 million for spinal surgery go?

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Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD. Photograph: Colin Keegan / Collins Dublin.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD. Photograph: Colin Keegan / Collins Dublin.

The latest scandal engulfing RTÉ and Minister for Media Catherine Martin may be more cock-up than conspiracy, but it is scarcely less damaging for that.

The fallout from the dispute over who knew what, when about exit packages for outgoing executives has already resulted in the shock departure of RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh. Just how much damage the affair will do to the Minister remains to be seen.

Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to talk about the story on today’s Inside Politics podcast.

Also on the podcast: Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has complained that €19 million of funding allocated to reduce waiting times for children in need of spinal surgery may not have been used as intended. Delays in the treatment of childhood Spina Bifida and scoliosis have been one of the worst features of our healthcare system, resulting in much pain and suffering.

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And we remember our colleague, former political correspondent and regular Inside Politics panelist Michael O’Regan, who died last week.

Plus the panel pick their Irish Times pieces of the week:

Finn McRedmond analyses the drinking habits of the young (and recently young).

An expert weighs in on whether a snail could outpace the development of Dublin’s Metro.

And Miriam Lord ‘s dissection of a frustrating Dáil squabble.

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