Seán Lemass is remembered as the man who changed Ireland.

Several opinion polls have noted Lemass as the country's most admired taoiseach.

He never left any papers of autobiography, but rather twenty-two hours of private interviews.

Hugh speaks to Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy who has gathered these lost interviews and collated them into a memoir in Lemass's own words.

Produced by JJ Vernon and Andrew McNair.

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Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion pages of The Irish Times, where he is often critical of Ireland’s approach to Europe.

Recently he wrote that “Ireland’s recent hissy fit at not being invited to a pre-EU summit meeting in Belgium speaks volumes as to where Dublin ranks in the minds of our fellow EU members”.

On today’s podcast he talks to Hugh about how Ireland’s influence in Europe has declined, why he believes Ireland’s political discourse around Europe is naive and lacking strategic depth and what “two-speed” EU development could look like - with or without Ireland as a key player. He also talks about how Ireland is viewed as being "in the pocket of the US multinationals".

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· Israeli strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure marked an escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran. With global oil and gas prices climbing, could we soon see Government measures to offset the cost to consumers?

· Opposition parties were less than impressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s showing during his St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump, but the world’s media praised Martin’s polite pushback on certain points.

· The demolition of an illegally-built Co Meath home has captured the public imagination this week. It has served to highlight the urban-rural divide when it comes to one-off housing during the current housing crisis.

· And the monthly payments to those housing Ukrainian people in their spare rooms will be wound down over the coming year.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

· Ronnie Delaney’s Olympic gold medal win inspires Frank McNally to victory, the generational talent of Oscar winner Jessie Buckley, and the enduring fascination around JFK jnr.

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.