After another year of high drama and lower farce, Shaun Connolly looks back at the heroes and villains of the past 12 months in Irish politics

As the Dáil takes its break, political correspondent Shaun Connolly looks back on a term of tax dodgers, ding-dongs, and declarations of love

David Beckham’s wife has bought him some pigs.

IT WAS the moment Ahern met Mbeki, two shapers of continents, or perhaps more realistically, two lame ducks deciding whose quack was still the loudest as they waddled together toward the exit sign of the world political stage.