The Last Presidential Debate 2011

On RTE last night we had the last Television debate between the 7 candidates ahead of the canvasing blackout at 2pm Wednesday. The debate was on the Fronth Line Program hosted by Pat Kenny but the questions came from the audience.
The following is what Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald thought of  the debate
RTE'S promos for the Frontline Presidential Debate implied that this was THE BIG ONE. The only one with a studio audience. who set the questions and therefore the tone, and the only one hosted by Pat Kenny.
It turned out to be true. This was the liveliest, most entertaining debate of them all, boasting one bombshell and one complete implosion. You wish it had come earlier in the campaign. So how did the seven fare?

Sean Gallagher The old wisdom that television debates ultimately have a negligible effect on how the public votes in an election will be tested to the limit after the current frontrunner's chaotic performance last night. 
Gallagher, who looked stiff, tense, and uneasy throughout the evening, hadn't been handling brickbats about his involvement with Fianna Fail or the toxic Charlie Haughey at all well, while Pat Kenny's persistent questioning about how certain monies had come to "lay resting" in one of his accounts ("How can you mislay 89 grand") left him looking rattled and unconvincing.
And then came Chequegate, delivered by Martin McGuinness, who claimed he'd earlier spoken to a man who told him Gallagher had visited his house to personally pick up a €5,000 cheque for a Fianna Fail nosh-up Gallagher had personally organised at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and also to drop off a photograph from the event.
Gallagher stated that he man rented an office to Gerry Adams during the General Election
When pressed by Kenny, Gallagher first said he had "no recollection" of this man giving him any cheque. Under increasing pressure from McGuinness, he conceded: "I may well have delivered the photographs. If he gave me an envelope..." - cue hoots of laughter from the audience and an awkward pause from Gallagher - "..if he gave me the cheque it was made out to Fianna Fail headquarters and it was delivered and that was that. It was nothing to do with me"
Oops. Afraid it had, Sean.
A week is a long time in politics; so, sometimes, is 90 minutes.
RATING 3/10



Michael D Higgins Kenny asked if he hadn't been "too presidential" by not engaging in attack on the other candidates. Higgins said he hadn't, thereby proving, again, that he's probably the most presidential of the lot. There was nothing thrown at him here that he couldn't handle and he effectively niggled away at Gallagher. 
This was a good, solid performance during which Higgins used charm and self-deprecating quios about his age - deadpanning that Gallagher's labyrinthine explanation of his accounting systemwas a little "too complicated" for him - to great effect.
RATING 6/10

Martin McGuinness For much of the evening he was Gallagher's main tormented, keeping him wriggling on the hook by venturing that there was "something rotten" at the heart of Fianna Fail and that Gallagher was "up to his neck in it".
But he simply unravelled when he found himself staring down the barrel of a direct question: does he regard the IRA killings in Northern Ireland as murder or casualties of war?
He couldn't give a straight answer and fell back on a well-rehearsed routine which continually referred to dealing with the reality that there was "a conflict"
There was one deeply disingenuous incident of double-speak after Kenny had asked him if he could bring himself to say he believes Jean McConville was murdered. "I can bring myself to say the family of Jean McConville believe she was murdered" he said.
Those who were always guaranteed to vote for McGuinness are still guaranteed to vote for him. But a significant number of transfers might wander after this performance.
RATING 4/10

David Norris Norris's performance, which showed some of the sparkle of old, will have done him no harm at all. He was witty, funny, erudite, interjected intelligently and made one fine point about the possibility of polls being self-fulfilling prophecies.
He delivered a standout moment - and the biggest laugh of the night - when Kenny asked all candidates if, should they be elected, they'd resign if damaging information about them came to light : "I'm sorry to disappoint the Irish public but the closet is absolutely empty!"
RATING 6/10

Gay Mitchell You can take as many pops at the other candidates as you like during a debate - and Gay Mitchell has been popping like a bowl of Rice Krispies on every occasion. You can take a pop at the host if you wish, and he did so here, criticising Kenny for the way he was conducting proceedings.
But the one thing you can never, ever do is take a pop at the studio audience for asking the wrong sort of questions. Mitchell did just that, losing his temper with a rant about there weren't enough questions being asked about the presidency.
It was a spectacularly bad call. Mitchell has a brilliant understanding of the Constitution and the role of the president, but his tetchiness has continually undermined his strong points. He imploded last night in a puff of purple pique.
RATING 2/10

Mary Davis With Kenny seemingly uninterested in following up Davis's role on various State boards, she had a quiet night of it and acquitted herself well, especially when reinforcing her claim that the constitutional amendment to widen the powers of the Oireachtas inquiries could dilute the rights of citizens. But it's probably too late to have any significant impact. If only she and some of the other candidates had been this coherent earlier in the campaign.
RATING 5/10


Dana Rosemary Scallon The wheels had already come off Dana's campaign long before her tyre blew out. This was another utterly inept and irrelevant performance, which once again suggested she's not entirely sure exactly what she'd be signing up for it the electorate went collectively mad overnight and voted her in. The silliest comment last night has to be. "I don't trust the Dublin 4 polls. I trust the people I meet on the street." Dear, oh, dear.
RATING 0/10


Pat Kenny He might be to light entertainment what Derek Mooney is to cage fighting but when he's in his proper settings, Kenny is the best TV current affairs broadcaster we have.
He was in his proper settings here and he marshalled the evening brilliantly, cutting the candidates off when they waffled, abruptly shunting them back on track when they threatened to veer off and never, not for a moment, putting up with any nonsense, yet sill giving them time and space to talk. An excellent performance
RATING 10/10

Due to the horrible weather in Dublin last night the final debate was ideal television viewing. Sean Gallagher reminded me of rabbit in the headlights when McGuinsess brought up the cheque, the more he tried to distance himself the bigger the hole got. This has to damage his push for the Aras, but how much will be known on Friday. Higgins was Higgins and as usual never put a foot wrong. McGuinness was good in attack but his defence is woeful. Norris seems to have admitted defeat and just turned up last night to ensure that he gets enough votes to be able to claim back his expenses (must get 12.5% of the vote with transfers). I think Mitchell, Davis and Scallon were written off before this debate but Mitchell put the final nail in this coffin with his attack on the host and the audience.
Still a two horse race but much closer than the weekend polls suggested. It will be a very interesting count on Friday.

Yet Another Debate.

In the presidential election we had another TV debate last night which was hosted by Miriam O'Callaghan on RTE's Prime Time slot. The following is the view of Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald on the proceedings. ( Taken from the Evening Herald 13/10/11)
Sick and tired of presidential election debates? We were until about 10.50 last night, when Dana dropped her "vile and malicious allegation" bombshell.
Or was it a smoke bomb designed to distract attention from the emptiness of her campaign and garner a little sympathy - and maybe a few votes? Or perhaps Dana just dropped an egg that will send her skidding even further to the margins of irrelevancy. After all, her CV includes Something's Cooking In The Kitchen.
Whatever, it brought what had been a largely muted and fractured debate in which none of the candidates exactly covered themselves in glory to an electrifying surreal and chaotic end.
Dana nearly broke down. David Norris went off on a rant. Miriam O'Callaghan was bemused. "What are you talking about?" she asked "What is the nature of the allegation?"
We don't know yet, but we do know how The Somewhat Less Than Magnificent Seven performed on the night. It's ratings time.

Michael D Higgins: A texter to Tonight With Vincent Browne on TV3 later wryly remarked the Michael D had taken the Ronan Keating approach to the debate: " He says it best when he say nothing at all". And that was about the size of it.
Spared the intense grilling Miriam O'Callaghan meted out to some of the others, Higgins kept his foot and mouth well apart, and said nothing likely to stall what is increasingly looking like a slow, if not always steady-in-his-gait, amble to the Aras. RATING 6.5/10

Gay Mitchell: Once again, Mitchell demonstrated his inside-out, upside-down knowledge of the Constitution and ho the job of President fits into the political structure. But this was still another dull and uninspired performance unlikely to alter the perception of him as a bit, well, cold and superior.
He can's seem to let his Martin McGuinness obsession go, either, taking digs at McG whenever the opportunity arose - and sometimes even when it didn't. Some commentators believe that tactic has backfired. And besides, as we'll see in a moment, McGuinness doesn't need any help tarnishing his own campaign. RATINGS 4/10

Martin McGuinness: Basically, he didn't handle Miriam's questions well. Her suggestion that his Catholicism would be difficult to reconcile with his involvement in murder was met with a snippy, "That's a disgraceful comment"
He accused her of making "a stupid statement" when she pressed him on his knowledge about who murdered David Kelly's father and suggested uncomfortable encounters would be a regular feature of a McGuinness presidency. This was the closest we've seen to McGuinness losing his rag, and while it won't change the minds of his hardcore republican supporters, it's likely to have an effect on the second preferences. RATING 2/10

Sean Gallagher: Healthy options poll signs and woolly waffle about creating jobs (which, as Miriam reminded him, is not the President's job) aside, Gallagher seemed to be the The Candidate Who Stands For Nothing In Particular. Until last night , when it appeared clear that he stands for: Fianna Fail.
The crucial damage was done when, at Miriam's prompting, he couldn't bring himself to state that the party he'd joined as a teenager, but now claims he's no longer involved with, had screwed up the country. It was a damaging performance. The ties that bind may be the ones that drag him  down. RATINGS 2/10

Mary Davis: "How can you be on so many boards and not be an insider?" Miriam asked the woman who claims to be the ultimate outsider. Davis pointed out that she was on three State boards. Miriam had suggested 25.
Davis is recovering well from the fuss over that particular subject.
And more impressively, she kept her cool when others around her were losing theirs under Miriam O'Callaghan's relentless grilling questioning. RATINGS 5/10

David Norris:Though he escaped the kind of grilling Vincent Browne gave him, there was nothing here to suggest Norris can recover an inch of lost ground. Miriam wondered if he had "the right judgement" for the job. He protested he'd been the victim of "a media firestorm, the like of which had never been seen".
The disability benefit issue? It had all been "legal". And the letters?. He has already "answered that comprehensively". It's all on his website, apparently. Her questioning of him seemed almost perfunctory; so, now, does his campaign. RATINGS 2/10

Dana Rosemary Scallon: The bombshell aside, this was another dismal performance that highlighted Dana's poor understanding of the role. Miriam went relatively easy on the American citizenship angle which has been done to death and instead targeted Dana's "right-wing fundamentalism"
She responded that if she was a right-winged fundamentalist (and she doesn't think she is) then "the Constitution is right-wing fundamentalist". Ah, so that's that cleared up. RATINGS 1/10

Introducing the Candidates

Presidential Election Update:
As mentioned previously in the blog the 7 members of the Irish State who have decided to try to become the president of the country appeared on the long running chat show The Late Late Show. The proceedings started off with an explanation about how the running order had been worked out and this was followed with a 5 minute interview between the host, Ryan Tubridy and each candidate with the exception of David Norris. Norris was not interviewed as he had been on the show 2 weeks earlier and the television station and the other candidates did not think that more air time for him would be fair.

All the Presidential Candidates and Ryan Tubridy.

The following is how Eamon Keane, a radio presenter and newspaper columnist gave his findings in the Evening Herald Paper of October 1st 2011.

Michael D Higgins was Mr President, complete with his new shortened locks. The key his steady body language. no finger waving, hands held together in presidential pose. Listen back to his voice pace, the use of pause to emphasise a point. Higgins scored high on competency. You figure that, of the bunch, he's the one you'd trust to make a tough call on a constitutional issue. The presidency is his to lose. Rating 9/10.

Sean Gallagher, The other candidates should watch his body language, mirrored in his confident walk. He frequently used the questions to set out his own stall. Cleverly, he also used the McAleese bounce, referencing the Presidents ability to inspire. Mary Davis take note. However he got dragges into a head game over being a mere TV celebrity on Dragonss' Den. He will know to avoid that next time. Rating 7/10.

Dana Rosemary Scallon knows how to work TV. She was warm and assertive without being strident. She took a clever line on sovereignty and was the first to directly address the audience. Phrases like 'people felt silenced' over the bank bailout resonated around the country. She handled all Tubridy threw at her and turned the tables on him when he tackled her on mandatory reporting. However she is way too low in the polls to worry Michael D Higgins. Ratings 7/10.

Gay Mitchell His handlers should look at his walk, it's simply not presidential. The turquoise tie promised an X Factor that never materialised. Too much hand movement distracted, and made Gay appear like a stern teacher. However Mitchell was powerful in his attack om McGuinness. Equally, his closing speech wa moving as he spoke of his family background. However it was not enough to put him into our heads as Mr. President. Rating 6/10.

Martin McGuinness was strong, but has a hard edge that won't pull in the floating vote. Tubridy asked a really good question on why he left the IRA and said at one stage 'your not going to answer it are you'. And that is the problem with Martin, as he also avoidedthe simple question about his personal belief on meeting Queen Elizabeth. He would do better to be honest. Rating 5/10.

Mary Davis began well. The bright red dress exuded warmth and she walked in with confidence, However her natural natural grace got lost under pressure. The political interview is unlike any other. She stumbled when asked about Denis O'Brien's involvment in her campaign. I would have advised a different response. The camera caught her at times looking frazzled on the reaction shots. She must remember that you are always on. Rating 5/10.

Alas poor David Norris I knew him well. The last few months have been savage and David appeared tetchy and Tired. He needs to slow down and adopt a more moderate voice tone. Giving out to interviewers - as Martin McGuinness does - is not a strategy. It is an emotional reaction which he needs to drop fast. Rating 5/10.

My take on the debate was that all the candidates have developed ways of not answering questions, some did not know the answer, some did not want to give the answer and most wanted to answer a question that was not asked.That's politics.

On a lighter note the Irish Rugby team are playing their final group game in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Dunedin, New Zealand at 8.30am (GMT) against a team from Italy. If Ireland win they will reach the quartre finals knockout stages.

Ireland against Russia   Credits INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Come on Ireland.