This week UCD professor Diarmaid Ferriter joins Hugh and Fiach to look at some of the issues currently on the civic and political agenda through the lens of history.

First it’s Fiach’s story that a Fianna Fáil takeover of the SDLP appears to be in the offing, with a merger being discussed at the highest levels of the parties.

What are the origins of this political alliance, and how would a merger work?

Also on the podcast: In seeking another seven years at the Áras, Michael D. Higgins becomes only the second sitting president in Ireland’s history to face a contest to do so.

In 1966 President Éamon de Valera chose not to run a campaign as he sought a second term, so Michael D. now finds himself in uncharted waters as he prepares to do battle in what could be a nasty contest.

And, as Ireland’s Catholics prepare to give Pope Francis a ‘céad mile failte’, how will his visit differ to that of John Paul II in 1979?