Mick Clifford: Unwieldy and shouty debate produced plenty of heat but very little light

There is a lingering suspicion that everybody in Thursday’s TV leaders debate was administered a high dose of adrenaline as they entered the studio. All were out of the blocks as if they’d been pumped up on something, and none more so than co-presenter Ivan Yates.

He began proceedings by suggesting that the lot of them were “chancers and charlatans”, which would sound the business if issued from a barstool. Younger people may be unaware that Mr Yates had a previous career as a politician. The 60-year old media presenter has been drawing an index lined ministerial pension worth over €75,000 for the last eighteen years. He knows what makes politicians tick.