Ahern ad upstages ‘old fellas’

A GOOD night for Michael McDowell and Pat Rabbitte, a reasonable night for Trevor Sargent and an off night for Gerry Adams.

But Bertie Ahern stole a march on them all, and he wasn’t even there.

An estimated 800,000 viewers tuned into RTÉ last night for the first televised debate of the election, featuring the leaders of Labour, the PDs, the Green Party and Sinn Féin.