As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time to take a breath and look back on another year of highs, lows and memorable moments.

The Pat Kenny Show has been with you through it all – and here are some of the best bits from the show this year.

Pat Kenny celebrates 10 years at Newstalk

This year marked Pat Kenny’s 10-year anniversary at Newstalk and to celebrate, a host of the show's favourite guests joined Pat for a special broadcast at the Aviva stadium.

Pat was joined by the likes of Andrea Corr, Luke O’Neill, Keith Barry and Tánaiste Michael Martin as part of a jam-packed show to mark the occasion.

On his way to becoming the station’s most listened-to show with 179,000 people tuning in daily, Pat has spoken to many well-known luminaries – including Bill Clinton, Cate Blanchett, Bono and Brendan Gleeson.

To celebrate the 10-year milestone, Newstalk has released a podcast series highlighting some of Pat’s best interviews from the past decade: ‘10 years of Pat Kenny on Newstalk.’

To start you off on the list, here’s Pat’s first-ever Newstalk interview – sitting down with Bono on September 2nd, 2013, to hear about the work he was doing in Ghana and his plans for U2.

'Please help us' - Traveller woman has lost 29 relatives to suicide

“Why are so many of my people dying through suicide?”

In the Traveller community, more than one-in-ten deaths are the result of suicide – compared to 11 in every 100,000 deaths recorded in Ireland.

In early December, Newstalk reporter James Wilson spoke to Mags Casey, a woman who has seen 29 relatives take their own lives.

In a heart-wrenching report for The Pat Kenny Show, James tried to get to the bottom of one of Ireland’s most shameful problems – and find out what we can do to save lives in the Traveller community.

Mags Casey speaking at the National Traveller Mental Health Network Protest outside Leinster House in Dublin, 31-05-2022. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Henry McKean reports on the dangers of fireworks this Halloween

As the sound of fireworks boomed around neighbourhoods all over Ireland with more than a week to go before Halloween, Newstalk reporter Henry McKean found out where they were all coming from – and what we can do to make sure kids stay safe during spooky season.

Fireworks remain illegal in the Republic of Ireland and you can face five years in prison or a €10,000 fine if found in possession of them to sell or supply.

Henry visited shops in Newry where business was booming with people crossing the border to stock up ahead of Halloween week.

He also spoke to the Department of Justice and Dublin Fire Brigade – where he learned about the ‘serious life-changing injuries’ young people have suffered over the years.

'The social contract is broken' - Liam Cunningham on 'thuggish' Dublin riots

In a special broadcast in early December, Pat spoke to actor Liam Cunningham about the Dublin Riots and the social exclusion in our capital city.

The 'Game of Thrones' star said the “thuggery” on show during the riots was inexcusable but warned that it is not difficult to understand the anger in many communities.

He warned that the ‘social contract is broken’ in Ireland – noting that when a teacher can’t afford to live in the city, eventually you’ll find there is nobody to teach your kids.

“The social contract is broken,” he said. “That doesn’t excuse the behaviour but as the fella said, it may explain it to some extent that, when you break the social contract, there's a payment for it.”

Actor Liam Cunningham talks to Pat Kenny, 01-12-2023. Image: Rory Walsh/Newstalk

Science With Luke: A major breakthrough in age reversal

Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill is a regular guest on The Pat Kenny Show, but in January he brought exciting news – a major breakthrough that could potentially reverse the aging process.

Research conducted by Harvard University took old mice and found a way to half their ages – something Luke said he had “never seen the like of”.

Noting that the study involved mice and not humans, Prof O’Neill said the authors claimed to have essentially made the mice 57% younger.

He said it remains unclear to science why we age at all – but as we get older, chemical marks build up on our DNA.

This new research suggests the chemical marks can be "scrubbed off" thus reversing the process.