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Behind the Story: Micheál Martin's future and Bangladesh aid cuts

It has been a day of reaction to Fianna Fáil's review into its presidential campaign, which saw Jim Gavin drop out of the race earlier this year after it emerged he owed a former tenant more than €3,000.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin earlier accepted "we didn't get this right" about the process to select Mr Gavin and that he has "taken full responsibility for that".

Hosts Fran McNulty and Barry Lenihan dissect the day's reaction – including whether a line has been drawn in the sand after a meeting of the parliamentary party last night.

"Pat The Cope Gallagher told him, this is not over, and that is a view shared by some within the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party," Barry noted.

Fran and Barry tease out the numbers required to trigger a vote of no-confidence in the party leader.

Foreign desk reporter Kate Varley also joins Behind the Story to discuss her recent trip with Concern to the world’s largest refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

"There are 1.3 million people living there, it’s a phenomenal amount of people – that’s roughly the population of Dublin," she said.

"They are Rohingya refugees who are an ethnic minority from neighbouring Myanmar, and they have been facing persecution there for decades.

"More and more people are arriving each year – so 150,000 in the past year alone," she explained.

Kate said cuts to US aid programmes are having devasting effects on the ground.

"They are 100% reliant on aid," she said.

"They’re not allowed to work by the Bangladeshi government, and they are not allowed to move freely.

"So, it’s international aid organisations that have been stepping in to support these people.

"Unfortunately, at the moment we have seen these huge cuts to international development budgets, spearheaded by Donald Trump.

"On day one when he returned to office, he signed an executive order essentially dismantling USAID - and we are seeing the impacts in Cox’s Bazar".


You can listen to Behind the Story which is available on the RTÉ Radio Player.

You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.