Key takeaways from debate that had no clear winner

With just days to go until the General Election, here are the key takeaways from last night's debate as the leaders of the three main political parties emerged unscathed.

No clear winner

Opinion polls in recent days suggested these three parties are bunched together in terms of support.

Over the course of this debate none of the three party leaders were able to pull clear of their opponents either.

No one shipped any great damage, and they all emerged unscathed. Yes, there were barbs, strong points of disagreement but as ever the knockout blow remained elusive.

Performance style

Mary Lou McDonald adopted a plain-speaking approach expressing empathy with those suffering as a result of the housing and cost of living crises.

She rarely looked fazed and repeatedly pointed out areas where government policy had not delivered what it promised. At times though some of her answers on policy points were shy on detail.

Simon Harris had a slow start to this debate before hitting a more fluid note in the later parts of the evening and he finished strongly. He struggled at times to convincingly explain how the problems in the health service can be remedied over the next five years.

This was a more restrained debating performance than usual from Micheál Martin, but it was deployed effectively. However, he was unable to explain thoroughly why his pledges in the area of disability have not resulted in significant progress being made.

Coalition options

Who will team up with who when the votes are counted?

Micheál Martin said "it's a definite" that his party would not go into government with Sinn Féin because they are not pro-enterprise and the party's housing policies are incompatible.

Simon Harris agreed, saying it was not personal, but the differences were just too great around issues like the EU and criminal justice. He also said it was important to stick to what you say during an election campaign - this was most likely a potshot at Micheál Martin over his previous pledge not to form a government with Fine Gael.

Mary Lou McDonald said that after a century of governments led by Tweedledum and Tweedledee there was life beyond Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. She said that she has never been more ready to lead a government.

Shout out to Labour

In a clear nod to possible future coalition partners, Micheál Martin talked about the noble contribution of the Labour Party during its periods in government over the last 100 years.

A slightly more subtle approach was taken by Simon Harris who asked his party's supporters to give their lower voting preferences to other centrist parties.

Partners at odds

For the most part, the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders were fairly mannerly to each other. But Micheál Martin seemed to shock Simon Harris when he claimed the Fine Gael manifesto would not allow for the hiring of any extra staff in the health service.

This was disputed by Simon Harris who said the document enabled the recruitment of the same number of staff as had been hired over the previous five years.

Rare Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin agreement

It is indeed a rare thing to find the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin on the same page on any issue. But they both believed that the State lost control of the streets on the night of riots in Dublin last year.

Was it all a thinly veiled criticism of the Fine Gael Justice Minister?

Simon Harris patiently waited for his opportunity to respond and then cut loose. He said garda families will think it strange that Mary Lou McDonald is now their champion. He added that no one in his party had ever collected a garda killer from the gates of a prison.

Most cutting line

Mary Lou McDonald looking to Micheál Martin and uttering the words "you brought the crash" before turning to Simon Harris to say, "and you brought austerity".

The Kanturk encounter

The Fine Gael leader still faced questions about his encounter with disability worker Charlotte Fallon in Kanturk last Friday night. He was asked if anyone in Fine Gael had contacted RTÉ to keep the exchange out of the news. Simon Harris said that he had "had no knowledge of that whatsoever". The contact was normal, he said.

Micheál Martin seemed to accept this explanation, but suggested that he is not sure how "normal" any type of contact is, saying "I just get on with it".

Housing

It is the biggest election issue. The Fianna Fáil leader said all the foundations are in place to build 60,000 homes a year by 2030.

As he did Mary Lou McDonald nodded her disagreement.

Simon Harris promised that for every one home delivered over the last five years, two can now be delivered in the next five years.

Mary Lou McDonald gave a quizzical exasperated side eye to such pledges.

Asked repeatedly if the banks will provide mortgages for her party's key affordable homes scheme, Mary Lou McDonald said she was absolutely confident that they would.

What if it all goes wrong?

If there is a rainy day, how would the parties deal with it?

Micheál Martin said that Fianna Fáil would protect the State's revenue and not cut taxes. Simon Harris pledged to borrow to keep building houses, while Mary Lou McDonald vowed not to introduce austerity.

All three leaders promised to put billions towards a buffer to protect against economic turbulence.

The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders were adamant, though, that Sinn Féin would not allocate sufficient money to this fund. Mary Lou McDonald insisted that she was a practical person who knew the importance of setting money aside.