A number of presidential candidates have criticised the manner in which last night's TV3 debate was handled.
Arriving at a breakfast event this morning in Dublin, Independent candidate Seán Gallagher said that in his opinion, many people watching at home would have "turned off that TV programme last night because of what they saw."
Mr Gallagher described standing in the middle of the podium getting "controversy in stereo from both extremities of the debate."
"I don't think that helped the office - I think the office is above that, it deserves more and the people deserve more" he added. "Would people have liked to have seen Mary Robinson there last night or Mary McAleese slugging it out?"
Other candidates were also critical of elements of the debate as they arrived for the breakfast organised by 'The Wheel' - an umbrella group representing more than 800 charities and not-for-profit organisations.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness criticised the lack of any audience interaction adding that "some media commentators want to be the star of the show."
Mr McGuinness described broadcaster Vincent Browne's method of producing a range of books citing his alleged involvement in the IRA after 1974, as "theatrics".
"We are living in a media age and whenever the format for these debates are decided by the media it can go anywhere and of course we are also living in an age where some media commentators want to be the star of the show,” said Mr McGuinness.
"Given that seven people were being moderated I'm not sure if it makes for the best television, I would much more prefer a question time type situation where the audience can actually ask questions" he added.
Mr McGuinness said that it did not matter who asked what questions. People would have to judge the candidates on what sort of people they were by the answers given, he said.
Michael D Higgins commented that the debate had moved the election on from The Late Late Show, calling the debate on the Vincent Browne Show "a good start to the substantive issues".
He raised the hope that a debate in Irish would be facilitated in the near future. "It is the first language and I would expect that some arrangement will be made to facilitate the people with different levels of the language to debate the issues" he said.
Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell said that with seven candidates the debate was always going to be difficult to manage but complemented Mr Browne on his handling of the show.
"I think the moderator did the best in the circumstances. We were encouraged to try and have free flow discussion and that may have meant that people were cutting across each other more than they should.
"I think no matter what sort of debate you had, with seven candidates that was going to be difficult."
While Mary Davis agreed that it was "very difficult" with seven candidates attempting to talk about their individual messages, she said that she was happy with how it went for her.