FIANNA FAIL DEPUTY leader Mary Hanafin has called for a debate between the deputy leaders of all the major parties.

As four out of the five deputy leaders of the main political parties in the country are women, this would give Greens deputy leader Mary White the (almost) all-women debate she has been looking for.

Mary Hanafin told a press conference this morning at the Fianna Fail election HQ on Lower Mount Street in Dublin:

I’d support any debate – I mean, I’m not sure that a debate amongst women, just because they’re women, is necessarily the right idea.

Iwouldn’t mind a deputy leaders’ debate, though, with James Reilly, Joan Burton, and… I think Mary White is a deputy leader as well. Because then you’d have the gender mix but you would bring it back to the real issue, which is not about the gender but about the politics.

Hanafin did not mention Sinn Fein’s deputy leader, but that is Mary Lou McDonald, and she would presumably be invited to an all-party debate between deputy leaders, should it be officially proposed.

James Reilly is Fine Gael’s deputy leader, Joan Burton is Labour’s and Mary White is second in command at the Green Party. Mary White called for a women-only debate between the parties earlier this week. Apart from the presence of James Reilly, a deputy leaders’ debate would grant her that wish.

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