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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's our final Friday wrap of the year and Jack Horgan-Jones and Jennifer Bray join Hugh to discuss the week in politics:

• The large influx of fresh TDs has brought a welcome joy and lack of cynicism to Leinster House. But the main event of the week was the election of Verona Murphy as Ceann Comhairle after some old-fashioned back-room dealing. Just how and why did it come about?

• The Regional Group of Independents, that clan of geographically diverse TDs that includes the new Ceann Comhairle, are now set to support Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as a partner in the next government. With Murphy out of the picture, the remaining members have begun jockeying for ministerial posts.

• This incoming coalition faces big challenges in the years ahead, from fiscal threats to climate action and handling the Occupied Territories Bill. How will the new government function and can it hold together?

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week, on TikTok, the €20 billion iceberg right ahead, and the sad decline of kissing under the mistletoe.

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