It’s ten days out from the general election and today the conversation will be dominated by Monday night’s leader’s debate. So, what do we know that we didn’t before? Jennifer Bray has summed it up in five key moments.
The big event of the day is Sinn Féin’s manifesto launch, with Mary Lou McDonald taking centre stage at Smock Alley Theatre alongside Pearse Doherty, Eoin Ó Broin, David Cullinane, and Claire Kerrane. That’s at 11am.
The Social Democrats will also launch their election manifesto at the Royal Institute of Architects on Merrion Square, that’s at 11am too.
Key Reads
- Miriam Lord’s election debate leaders’ ratings: Usual hams hogging most of the limelight.
- Simon Harris doubles down on defence of John McGahon despite widespread criticism.
- John McGahon and the ‘vicious’ Dundalk fight that has caused people to question his candidacy.
- The debate: Is it time to ban election posters?
- Clare LGBT group on the far right: “If they pick on one minority, they will pick on another. We would be in the firing line.”
Justice debate: Do people feel safe?
Justice is the topic of debate, with policing and law and order issues on Claire Byrne’s RTÉ show this morning.
Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy says Dublin is an under policed city, people don’t feel safe in their communities around the country.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee says there is more aggression in society post Covid, there is a need for more gardai, but there is a need to focus on more than just garda numbers. Everybody is accountable here.
Labour’s Marie Sherlock says there no funding behind civic partnership. She reports huge frustration in public, saying they don’t feel safe. She says there are fewer gardai now in Dublin than in 2018. Morale is low among gardai. She says there is a need to reopen garda training college in Phoenix Park. Communities do not feel any impact from the measures taken to date, she says.
Peadar Toibin - “I feel like I’m on Fr Ted with calls for another task force. There is a fall every year in the number of gardai. More (Irish) were recruited for the Australian police force than gardai.
Fianna Fail’s James Brown defended his time as a Minister of State in Justice, saying he pushed funding for youth diversion projects. He foregrounds Fianna Fáil’s manifesto pledge to to split the Department of Justice. He says prisons overcrowded, there is record immigration, and the Department is not able to handle the responsibilities it has
McEntee says that introduction of body cams means that arrests would happen sooner now.
Matt Carthy says more gardai is critical, saying the large parties of government have decimated garda numbers. Need to retain the number we have so people do not resign, with record levels of people leaving the force.
James Brown says the way that gardai are recruited needs to be changed - new pathways, and that there should be a graduate mechanism
It’s a little bit of a slow start this morning, with the political system still digesting last night’s debate
But there’s a full programme of election outings across the day, and The Irish Times will have dispatches from around the country. Here’s what the political parties have planned for the day:
The big event of the day is Sinn Féin’s manifesto launch, with Mary Lou McDonald taking centre stage at Smock Alley Theatre alongside Pearse Doherty, Eoin Ó Broin, David Cullinane, and Claire Kerrane. That’s at 11am.
The Social Democrats will also launch their election manifesto at the Royal Institutute of Architects on Merrion Square, that’s at 11am too.
The Royal Irish Academy is playing host to climate hustings at 9.30am
The Greens are launching their warmer homes policy at a briefing in a retrofitted home in Walkinstown at 10.30am. Roderic O’Gorman, Patrick Costello and Cllr Ray Cunningham will be in the house.
Fine Gael is to outline its healthcare and disability plans in Dublin 2 at 11am.
Norma Foley is setting out Fianna Fáil’s plans for the education sector at Harcourt Terrace Educate Together national school. That’s at 11.15am.
Labour is launching its climate action and just transition policy – Ivana Bacik alongside election candidates Sadhbh O’Neill (Waterford) and Shane Folan (Dublin Bay North). That’s at midday.
At 12.50pm, Richard Boyd Barrett and Dublin North West candidate for PBP Conor Reddy will visit teachers protesting against leaving cert reform plans at St Kevin’s College in Dublin 11.
Well, the debate has come and gone. Read our snap analysis, colour and real time reporting
Harry McGee manned yesterday’s live story into the night to keep on top of things as they developed. Read more here
Jennifer Bray was in Montrose for the debate to see sparks fly. Read her on-the-whistle analysis here:
Miriam Lord on the usual hams and Michael Collins’ chest hair. Read, if you dare, here:
Our morning digest, majoring on what we learned from the debate, is here:
Sinn Féin’s manifesto launch is the big engagement of the day. Political editor Pat Leahy has the heads up on a few key points
- A €7 billion war chest for retrofitting, with 75 per cent put aside for low and modest income households, with a special fund to replace solid fuel heating systems
- €2.5 billion for a renewable energy investment fund
- Restoring the retirement age to 65
- A second Garda training college allowing for an annual intake of 500 extra recruits and a goal of growing numbers in the force to 16,000; a special focus on garda retention with a dedicated taskforce and focus on garda numbers in rural areas
- Seeking a united Ireland referendum by the end of the decade
- A referendum on votes for citizens in Northern Ireland and the diaspora in presidential elections
- Right to speak in the Oireachtas for Northern MPs
Social Democrats manifesto - sneak peek
Our parliamentary correspondent Marie O’Halloran writes in with a few baubles from the Social Democrats manifesto launch, which is scheduled for 11am.
- Free public transport for under 18s
- 145,000 social and affordable homes, including 50,000 affordable purchase homes, 25,000 affordable rental units and 70,000 social homes
- An end to no-fault evictions and a three-year rent freeze
- A “reference rent” system pegging the rent to nearby local dwellings of a similar quality - while getting rid of Rent Pressure Zones
