Sinn Féin gain, no giveaway budget, Leo on Benefits Street

Harry McGee and Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan to discuss the week in politics:

• The latest Irish Times / Ipsos opinion poll shows Sinn Féin continuing to gain. Other poll results foreshadow the potential for difficult negotiations if the party needs to form a coalition with Fianna Fáil.

• Beyond the next election, the poll shows long term problems for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael when it comes to attracting young voters.

• Budget 2024 is just over a week away and for now the message is that this will not be a pre-election giveaway - but will that hold?

• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar dropped an unusual and somewhat controversial reference this week, prompting our panel to speculate about his TV viewing habits.

Plus the panel select their favourite reads of the week:

• Without even mentioning the song, Diarmaid Ferriter has (hopefully) the last work on Zombiegate.

• Michael McDowell calls for a new agency to reverse Dublin's decline

• And Pat commends our reporters' wide coverage of this week's historic drugs bust.

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