Are Sinn Féin drifting away from an uneasy left-wing alliance?

Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

· The left-wing alliance that was formed during Catherine Connolly’s presidential campaign is already straining, with the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit concerned with the policy direction of Sinn Féin on issues like migration and reproductive rights.

· Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins was not impressed by left-leaning voters neglecting to supply party candidate Noel Thomas with enough transfers to prevail in the recent Galway West byelection. Perhaps those voters did not want to give Thomas a preference given his far from left-leaning stance on immigration.

· The omission of services from the Occupied Territories Bill, which targets Israeli imports produced from Palestinian lands, came as a surprise to no one. After many months of mulling it over, the Taoiseach was accused by Opposition parties of reneging on promises to prohibit all trade with settlements. Government can expect many calls for amendments when it is brought to Oireachtas in the coming weeks.

· And the building of one-off rural housing could become easier with plans to relax the rules for rural housing, aimed at allowing for increased supply, expected to be brought to Cabinet next month.

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