The Political Party

The Political Party was an Irish politically themed chat show, broadcast by TV3. It ran for half an hour on Friday evenings. Up until November 2008, it aired on Sunday evenings at 17:00. Hosted by TV3's political editor, Ursula Halligan, the show had an eccentric approach to guests, and included government ministers, poverty campaigners and maverick business leaders in the same programme. The Political Party was driven by Halligan's quirky style of questioning, which can frequently lead the guests to volunteer information they did not expect to. The programme often generated news stories, as politicians chose it to reveal "exclusives" on air. Billed as "the show the politicians are watching", it developed an audience of politicians, media types and others with an interest in the inside track on Irish politics. The show was dropped by TV3 as part of major cutbacks due to the station's deteriorating financial situation. The station's late night sports show was also axed. Halligan is due to launch her new, as yet unnamed, TV show, which will consist of one-to-one interviews, later this year.