Cormac McQuinn and Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan to discuss the week in politics:

• How should the Government use this year's forecast €10 billion budget surplus?

• TDs are obsessed with what the new Electoral Commission will do to constituency boundaries. History shows they have good reason.

• Secretary general at the Department of Health Robert Watt's appearance at the Oireachtas finance committee did the opposite of putting the story about Dr Tony Holohan's botched appointment to bed.

Plus the panel pick their IT stories of the week:

• Ciara O'Brien on a big week in the world of Elon Musk

• Naomi O'Leary writing about free public transport in Luxembourg. It is popular but are people in their cars less? Find out here.

• Harry McGee on Eamon Ryan's strong opposition to Dublin Port's development plans.

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On today’s Inside Politics podcast Hugh Linehan is joined by Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones from our political team to discuss this week’s stories, including:

• Focus on Sinn Féin’s link to discredited witness Jonathan Dowdall since the conclusion of the Regency trial this week. Will the connection harm the party at election time?

• Fine Gael TD John Paul Phelan’s intention to stand down at the next election is on the grounds of ill health. But there is also a broader trend of politicians leaving politics behind.

• A report into the botched appointment of Dr Tony Holohan to a state-funded position at Trinity College Dublin showed how surprisingly sloppy the process had been and revealed a major dispute among senior civil servants over who knew what, when.

• Will independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice really launch a new political party catering to farmers fed up with the Green agenda?

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Irish Times Washington Correspondents past and present, Simon Carswell and Martin Wall, have both been covering US president Joe Biden's visit to Ireland this week.

They join Pat Leahy to talk about what the visit has been like and how it has gone down at home in the US, here in Ireland and elsewhere.

They look at Mr Biden's comments here and ask how well he's balanced the various diplomatic, political and emotional aspects of his presence.

And they discuss some surprising comments Mr Biden made in Dáil Éireann that may give ammunition to those arguing the 81 year old is too old to run again in 2024.

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The whole world is a series of collective action problems, says Professor Ben Ansell. We want action taken to solve problems, but we want most of the benefits of those actions for ourselves while wanting others to bear the costs. These conflicts are at the heart of the failure of politics to solve many pressing problems, from housing to climate change.

In his new book Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape Them, he looks in detail at these conflicts and why modern politics leaves us so disappointed.

On today's podcast Ben talks to Hugh Linehan about how politics works on a human level, why trust in politics has declined, the importance of institutions, the evolution of political parties, and why housing is the defining issue of the age.

Ben Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Oxford University. Why Politics Fails is his fourth book.

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Cormac McQuinn and Pat Leahy join Hugh to look back at the week in politics:

• Bad-tempered Dáil debates on confidence motions this week
• Defence Forces in crisis following the Women of Honour report
• US president Joe Biden's Ireland visit schedule confirmed

And the team talk about some of the best Irish Times content of the week, including:

• Mark Paul on the outcome of the SNP leadership race and the opportunity for the Labour Party in Scotland.
• Are private cars a bad thing or a good thing? Both views appeared in the opinion pages of The Irish Times this week.
• Forbes magazine's ongoing failure to make amends with Limerick city

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April marks 25 years since the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement was reached, ending the Troubles and establishing a new political arrangement on the island of Ireland.

But today the institutions that were set up back in 1998 are in crisis.

Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole talks to Hugh Linehan about the significance of the Agreement:

• The events that led up to the deal and the role of John Hume
• The impact of the Agreement on the evolution of Sinn Féin
• How Brexit trampled on the ideas underpinning the Agreement
• The future of the powersharing institutions and how Northern Ireland has moved on

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Despite the government's comfortable defeat of a motion of no confidence this week, the fallout continues as it reacts to the forthcoming lifting of the eviction ban. "They've made a hames of it," according to Pat Leahy. Jack Horgan Jones analyses how Green support is slipping among young voters and the number of WhatsApp leaks is indicative of a very unhappy party. Plus, the attitude to the Windsor Framework in Brussels and is Leo Varadkar in the make-or-break phase of his political career?

Hugh's article of the week is Finn McRedmond's opinion piece on whether this generation is worse off than its parents.

Pat particularly enjoyed Fintan O'Toole' grudging admission that he's finally fallen in love with rugby.

Jack Horgan Jones recommends Mark Paul's London Letter, after attending the annual Press and Political Reception at the Irish embassy in Belgravia.

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The contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon has been heating up over the last number of weeks, as the three candidates vying for the position, have clashed over policy issues and the future of the party. The first leadership contest in 20 years; it’s generally believed to be a two-horse race between current Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, with former Minister for Community Safety Ash Regan, trailing behind in popularity.  

So what can we expect from the final days of the contest, will the next leader unite or divide the SNP and how will the emerging cracks be covered over?

To discuss all this and more, Hugh is joined by Scotland Editor of The Spectator Alex Massie and London Correspondent Mark Paul who is following the contest from Edinburgh.

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It's St Patrick's Day week and ministers are flying off to press the flesh around the world. Jack Horgan-Jones and Jennifer Bray join Hugh to talk about everything that's going on back home in politics including:

• Joe Biden will visit Ireland next month. How will he be received North and South?
• Tanaiste Micheal Martin says Ireland has 'turned a corner' on housing. Is he right?
• An errant tweet has landed the Green Party's communications director in hot water and put the spotlight on divisions within the party.

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