The Week in Politics

The Week in Politics
The Week in Politics
Genre	News and Current Affairs
Presented by	Sean O'Rourke
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language(s)	English
Production
Location(s)	Studio 3, RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	60 mins
Production company(s)	RTÉ
Release
Original network	RTÉ One RTÉ News Now
Picture format	PAL (16:9)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	1996 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Prime Time Leader's Questions European Parliament Report
External links
Website

The Week in Politics is an Irish news and current affairs programme broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ News Now. It is presented by Sean O'Rourke, occasionally by David McCullagh or Bryan Dobson. In its original format in 1996 it was hosted by Geraldine Harney and Seán Duignan.

The programme reflects on the political week, with interviews and discussions. The majority of guests are politicians who are Teachta Dálaí or Irish Senators. The programme is broadcast live at noon on Sunday and is repeated throughout the day on RTÉ News Now and its traditional late night slot on RTÉ One. The programme moved from its late night slot to midday in January 2013.

The programme also has reports from RTÉ News and Current Affairs reporters.

Pat Carey, the Irish Government's Chief Whip, used the show to call for changes to the compensation scheme for victims of child abuse following the revelations contained within the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

Fine Gael by-election candidate, George Lee caused controversy in May 2009 when he called for the abolition of Seanad Éireann on The Week in Politics after hearing that the senators only sat for forty days and cancelled one session to pursue a round of golf. Lee is a former employee of RTÉ, having served as their chief economics editor for years before announcing his decision to seek election. The Irish Independent suggested Lee displayed "a lack of basic political knowledge" as Dáil Éireann sits for just one extra day. Lee called the controversial golf session "an absolute outrage" on the show and, when prompted further on his views, said: "I really couldn't be bothered if they [the senators] were shut down, it's a disgrace". Members of his own party were said to be "furious" at Lee's remarks, with one unnamed senator saying it was an "attack... born out of ignorance... does he want to close down the Dáil, too?".Maurice Cummins described the Seanad as the "whipping boy" of Irish politics and Frances Fitzgerald asked Lee to read over the party's policy on the matter.