Last week Pat Leahy sat down with former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte for an interview about his life in politics.

Rabbitte is now retired but for decades he was one of the most recognisable faces and voices of centre left politics in Ireland.

As a minister in the 2011 Fine Gael-Labour coalition, he witnessed first hand the events explored in our recent mini series on the subject.

He talked about the decisions he made as party leader and as a minister, as well as his formative years in the west of Ireland and 1960s America, and what he thinks of today’s splintered centre-left.

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Harry McGee and Cormac McQuinn join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics:

All anyone can talk about this week is the weather. While the country enjoys the warmth, the Government still has to find balance between spending to prevent climate change and spending to mitigate the impact of change that has already arrived.

Keir Starmer may be gone but the UK's biggest problem remains: the lack of growth in their economy.

Proposed “reform” (read: scrapping) of the “triple lock” restriction on Irish overseas military deployment has run into trouble due to disquiet among Fianna Fail backbenchers. If not a rebellion, there was certainly “a renewed amount of grumbling” over the issue. But will it be a real problem for Taoiseach Micheal Martin?

Plus the panel pick their IT stories of the week including a plea for underground bins, Michael McDowell’s bold predictions and the divestment of Catholic church patronage.

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Next week Ireland takes over the presidency of the EU Council. But what does that mean? What exactly is the EU Council anyway? How does this council and this presidency fit in among the numerous other European councils and presidents? And how is Ireland going to approach the challenges and opportunities the six-month position brings? To find out Pat Leahy talks to Jack Horgan-Jones and Jack Power.

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