CANDIDATES FEEL THE HEAT IN RTE DEBATE

IF the General Election candidates taking part in the RTE Radio 1 debate live on Drivetime last Wednesday were expecting an easy ride, they were in for a shock.

Candidates Marc MacSharry, Martin Kenny, Marian Harkin, Declan Bree and Thomas Walsh had barely taken their seats at the makeshift studio in the Glasshouse Hotel when presenter Mary Wilson started probing.

First in the line of fire was Fine Gael Councillor Thomas Walsh, running in a General Election for the first time. The experienced Wilson wasn’t willing to give him time to get settled at the table, and went straight in on the party’s recent controversies.

“You’re running for Fine Gael, and it’s a party in a bit of a mess in this constituency,” she began. “You lost the first two candidates selected to run, they both decided otherwise. Yourself and Frankie Feighan now the flag carriers.

“In your local paper today, on the front page it appears that your party has expelled the son of a former Fine Gael member who is running as an independent, for giving his father a dig-out with social media. Is this what you expect from Fine Gael?”

Referring to the party’s expulsion of Jude and Marie Perry, son and wife of former Fine Gael TD John Perry, Walsh was critical of the party’s decision.

“On the Jude expulsion, Jude and Marie, it was ill-judged. I understand that it has been rescinded and they are both back in the party. I don’t know where the decision was taken in HQ but very very wrong. I know John, Marie and Jude very well.”

But before Walsh could continue with his praise for the Perry family, he was facing even tougher questions.

“Isn’t it interesting that they expelled a Young Fine Gael member and Catherine Noone who called the Taoiseach autistic is still running as a candidate in Dublin Bay North?” Wilson asked.

Walsh, to his credit, was critical of Senator Noone, despite party allegiances. “You would have to question that. I think Catherine has apologised and so she should.”

‘Welcome to a General Election campaign’ read the faces of the other debate participants, as Walsh made it through the baptism of fire.

Cllr. Walsh could breathe a sigh of relief, as Wilson now turned her attention to Marian Harkin, running as an Independent.

“I want to know, if you are elected here and if you are a player in terms of offering support to one or other of the parties, what is your price? Do you want a ministry?” Wilson asked.

Harkin tried to answer in a roundabout way: “My price is that the region and in particular the North-West gets its fair share.”

Wilson wasn’t backing down: “But what’s your price?”

“That’s my price,” Harkin responded in relation to her previous comment about the North-West.

Wilson wasn’t letting it go: “How do you deliver that?”

Harkin started to explain her reasoning: “The report from the North West Regional Assembly today showed absolutely damning figures for investment.”

But before she could get going on that issue, Wilson stopped her: “Let’s stick with this, do you want a ministry?”

And she got her answer: “I want to be able to deliver for this region. If that means a ministry, absolutely,” Harkin conceded.

On Wilson went: “Rural development, rural affairs, you’d take it. If there’s not a ministry on offer, you’ ll put a package on the table?”

Harkin had adjusted to the line of questioning at this point: “I want to put a package on the table, I know what that package is.”

Now, for Martin Kenny’s turn, the outgoing Sinn Féin TD. He would have to face questions from Wilson about reports that Sinn Féin candidates have to take instruction from An Ard Chomhairle.

“Who are you answerable to?” Wilson firmly asked.

“The electorate,” Kenny replied without hesitation.

The ordeal wasn’t over yet for Kenny. “Are you answerable to the Ard Comhairle? Are you answerable to shady figures in Sinn Féin? Are you your own man?”

Kenny was staying firm on this one: “Absolutely. Anyone who knows me knows I won’t be bullied by anybody.”

“Who gives you orders?” Wilson wanted to know.

“Nobody, nobody gives me orders. We work as a collective,” Kenny replied, but again was cut off before he could continue his defence.

Wilson said: “Do you appoint your own team or is your team appointed to you?”

Kenny wasn’t going to be rattled by the probe: “I employ my own team. It’s a question being put out there by our opponents who are digging for dirt.”

Well accustomed to the rat race that is a General Election campaign, long standing Councillor Declan Bree had to pause when asked how many times he’s run for the election.

Marc MacSharry was able to tell him it was 11.

“What are you going to change? What’s your price?” Wilson asked Bree, who is running as a member of Independents 4 Change.

There was no beating around the bush on Bree’s part.

“I can give you an assurance that I will not be propping up a Government composed of right wing people. We will not support a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach of a Fine Gael Taoiseach. We will work with colleagues in People Before Profit, and we will work with colleagues in Sinn Féin.”

Wilson suggested that people may feel a vote for Declan Bree is ‘wasted’.

“Absolutely not,” he snapped back. “I think it’s more important now than ever before that people vote for parties other than the right.”

There was no shaking Bree, would MacSharry be undone by Wilson’s strong line of questioning?

“You have a reputation as a straight talker, so a straight question, do you expect a ministry for you if Fianna Fáil is in Government?”.

An easy one for the outgoing Fianna Fáil TD: “That’s a matter for the people in Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal and North Roscommon. As a front bench member, responsible for transport, tourism and sport, it is my intention with colleagues Eamon Scanlon and Shane Ellis to bring the message and needs of this region to the cabinet table.”

“So you want a ministry? Do you want transport? I heard you did,” Wilson piled the pressure on MacSharry.

He’s used to it. He wouldn’t fold. “It’s a matter for the leadership in due course. For now we’re focusing on maximising our vote based on our manifesto and those matters will be considered after the election.”

MacSharry, and indeed the candidates before him in Bree, Harkin, Walsh and Kenny made it through the early rounds relatively unscathed.