General election 2011 - Focus on the issues not personalities

AT this point in any election campaign all serious candidates know that every opportunity to communicate with voters must be used wisely and exploited to its utmost.

Last night’s TV3 debate was to have been the first set-piece for those who might be Taoiseach though, using that criteria, it is reasonable to question the inclusion of Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin. In current circumstances ratings point to at least one Dáil term in opposition for Mr Martin and his parliamentary colleagues, however many he has at the end of the month.

The same opinion polls suggest that Labour’s Eamon Gilmore, last night’s second half of the two-hander, has a far better chance of becoming Taoiseach than Mr Martin. It is indeed a seismic shift in Irish politics to dare suggest that a Fianna Fáil leader played no more than a support actor’s role at such an event.