The latest scandal engulfing RTÉ and Minister for Media Catherine Martin may be more cock-up than conspiracy, but it is no less damaging for that. 

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

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. 

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 on the drinking habits of the 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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