Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
THE FIRST OF three RTÉ Prime Time debates featuring almost all of the European election candidates took place last night with Midlands North-West hopefuls getting their turn.
The duo were part of the second panel of night, but felt aggrieved at being excluded from the first which was made up of sitting MEPs and those with parties or independents with 10 per cent support or more at the last election.
Panel one was Labour’s Lorraine Higgins, Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness and Jim Higgins, Fianna Fáil’s Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, and independent Marian Harkin.
Panel two was Direct Democracy Ireland’s Ben Gilroy, Fianna Fáil’s Thomas Byrne, the aforementioned Ming and Mullen, the Green Party’s Mark Dearey, and independents TJ Fay and Mark Fitzsimons.
And here are a few things we learned in case you were in bed/doing something better…
1. Almost everyone targeted the Sinn Féin candidate
Matt Carthy is a big favourite to take a seat in MNW and for that reason alone the other parties were keen, at every opportunity, to have a pop at him particularly after he reeled off the standard Sinn Féin spiel about the current crop of MEPs pursuing “an austerity agenda”. He even held up a copy of the party’s “fully-costed” pre-Budget submission.
Lorraine Higgins said the SF’s policies made her “smile” while McGuinness went for an old favourite, telling Carthy: ”Your form of negotiation is almost to put a gun to the head of people… ”
Format of this debate means all established parties are attacking SF - there's no one else with a divergent view. #rtept
Even Marian Harkin had strong words for the Monaghan councillor saying he was “trying to wrap the austerity flag around him”. But Labour’s Higgins, whose chances of winning a seat are slim, had a go several times, “He’ll be outside the room, while I’ll be in the room.” She even said she’d met Martin Schulz. But how many voters know who he is?
2. Water, water, everywhere
In a constituency which includes Roscommon, where in some parts they might end up paying for undrinkable water, it’s no surprise that H2O was a big issue. It formed the basis of Katie Hannon’s pre-debate report and was the first question.
Nobody seemed particularly happy about the situation. McGuinness, of Fine Gael, bemoaned the fact Ireland had in the past ignored a bunch of EU water directives and conceded that nobody should pay for water people don’t drink.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Lorraine Higgins said Labour had got fairness out of the water deal. The opposition criticised the setting up of Irish Water, Carthy in particularly pivoting back to his anti-austerity message.
TJ Fay: People are "stressed beyond belief" about water charges. #rtept
The crop of current MEPs tried their best to talk about the work they did. We heard about banking union – or, as Harkin put it: “Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted” – while Pat ‘The Cope’ discussed fishing policy. Jim Higgins talked about leaving politics at the door and sticking on the “green jersey”.
Both he and McGuinness talked about how great Michael Noonan is while Higgins said he’d met a commissioner who no one’s ever heard of and had written to Joan Burton about the youth guarantee.
Ah but has she written back enquired debate moderator David McCullagh? “I’m waiting for an answer,” poor Jim admitted.
Jim Higgins: I’ve written to Joan Burton….. urging here… to keep her eye on it… I am waiting for an answer. #rtept
4. The inclusion of two Fine Gael candidates in the first debate was a mistake.
Having two MEPs from the same party on the one panel was slightly pointless and that became all the more apparent in the second half when there was no government representative. Mullen claimed this would have sent most people off to bed.
Fitzsimons said at one point in the second debate: “You have a lot of people on the same side here, there’s no mix-up in it.” He was right.
5. The format of the debate came up
Mullen launched into a long criticism of RTÉ for the way they’d constructed the debate. He took “exception” to the structure and earned the applause of at least two other candidates. “You should have drawn lots,” he told Miriam O’Callaghan before at one point accusing her of “listening to the voices in your head”. Maybe he meant her producers.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
6. Nigel Farage made an appearance
Miriam was keen to probe DDI candidate Ben Gilroy’s past praise of controversial UKIP leader Nigel Farage and sure enough Gilroy was only to happy to say Farage calls it as he sees it.
Later he described Farage as a “lone soldier, but a strong voice” admitting he could well allay himself with the outspoken MEP in the next parliament.
7. There were plenty of odd and funny moments
Marian Harkin called David McCullagh “Donagh” while Thomas Byrne made the startling admission that ”the past happened, absolutely.”
For no particular reason, Ming gave Gilroy pure evils when the latter was talking about the national debt.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
While Gilroy described Pat ‘The Cope’ as Pat ‘Can’t Cope’ and at one point referred to “ethnically cleansed fish”.
Whatever they are.
The second debate features Ireland South candidates an is on RTÉ One at 10.35pm tonight.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Masked men escape with cash after smash-and-grab raid at south Dublin coffee shop
7 mins ago
3
Breakdown
German election: Huge turnout, young voters turn left and former Soviet east backs the far right
1 hr ago
3.4k
41
german election
Christian Democrats come first in German election as far-right claim second place spot
Eoghan Dalton
Updated
20 hrs ago
31.8k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say