The Race for the ARAS.....

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Norris and Michael D were the men for me last night. Gallagher has no real substance, and cannot perform in debates. The irony of McGuinness telling him to answer the question was hilarious. The bullshit about the McConville family interpreting her murder as murder shows him up again to be totally out of touch with the majority of the electorate in the South.  Looks like a complete set up by Sinn Fein last night, the twitter account is not real, and there was plenty of Shinners in the rent a crowd.
Davis was blander than bland, Mitchell and idiot, and Dana worse....

And what exactly did Norris or Higgins do that means they won the debate? Higgins from what I can see, added nothing (all he needed to do thanks to McG dealing with Gallagher) and Norris did his usual - shouted in his best English accent and making no real points what so ever. The fact that those two men were second and third in my eyes shows just how poor a field it is.  The debate will be remembered for the impact made by one candidate (McG) who has in all probability, ended any hopes of the man who was the clear poll topper for the last fortnight. Can you honestly say any other candidate did or said ANYTHING which made an impact like that?

Nally Higgins came across Presidential and understands the role of the President. Mitchel understands the role of president, but did not come across Presidential at all. Norris understands the role of the president and his one liners caught out Gallagher and McGuinness at times. I loved the line about the fancy big campaign bus used by McGuinness. Right after McGuinness was talking about modes of transport etc. Dana was as useless as ever. Mary Davis showed brief flourishes but did little. Gallagher was a walking disaster, McGuinnes might have got the ball rolling, but most of the candidates took him down a few pegs.

Nally, it seems the people who are going to vote or come from the areas where people have a vote (this is not an argument about the right or wrongs about who should have the vote) mostly impressed by Higgins. That is what matters for this particular election.

[cicfada]

MMG revealed the connection and tried to hit Gallagher with it! It did not have the full effect until Kenny came back later to "reveal" that a twitter account had said that the donor was going to be revealed  today!! yes MMG started the  ball rolling but it did not hit home until Kenny came  back in with the revelation! Secondly  MMG must have some kind of relationship with Morgan as  they had spoken on the phone earlier on!  Would seem to be remarkable timing for a relationship to start with a phone call that happened to be before  the last presidential debate! Gallagher was caught out allright lying and  it's a  huge mistake for him not to admit the contact with Morgan earlier, I mean the money was for Fianna Fail and not for him!! Could cost him hugely!! Michael D was the real winner last night!!

[Ulick]

Mc Guinness is being given credit here when it was Pat Kenny that really laid  it up for him with his "Sinn Fein are going to reveal the donor" comment!Also there was no comment on the relationship between MMG and this   convicted smuggler  as well! After all they had spoken on the phone earlier!! Whichever RTE researcher read the comment on Twitter deserves the praise too. MMG would not have landed any punch of any description without that intervention.  Very entertaining debate though and Norris was so witty. Michael D will probably  end up getting the extra votes now

Nonsense, Gallagher had the opportunity to come clean when McGuinness first mentioned it, but he choose to deny it (lie) instead of manning-up. Then after the break when he admitted telling a porkie, he clearly revealed Hugh Morgan's identity and then tried to besmirch his character and tie him to SF by mentioning he rented a building to the Adams campaign team in Louth. It matters not a jot if McGuinness has any "relationship" to McGuinness, Gallagher was Cowan's bagman and was caught lying about it. Of course it all backfired when the Plank asked him if he knew about Morgan's conviction before the took the money. I'd expect Hugh Morgan will have something to say about Gallagher today as I don't think he was ever convicted of laundering fuel but rather smuggling in the 90's from the south to the north. Seanie boy dug that big hole for himself, Martin just handed him the shovel.

[Tubberman]

Gallagher was on Pat Kenny's radio show just now and accused MMcG and SF in general of political assassination.
I suppose it's a step forward from the other types of assassination he would have been involved in 

[Ulick]

MMG revealed the connection and tried to hit Gallagher with it! It did not have the full effect until Kenny came back later to "reveal" that a twitter account had said that the donor was going to be revealed  today!! yes MMG started the  ball rolling but it did not hit home until Kenny came  back in with the revelation! Secondly  MMG must have some kind of relationship with Morgan as  they had spoken on the phone earlier on!  Would seem to be remarkable timing for a relationship to start with a phone call that happened to be before  the last presidential debate! Gallagher was caught out allright lying and  it's a  huge mistake for him not to admit the contact with Morgan earlier, I mean the money was for Fianna Fail and not for him!! Could cost him hugely!! Michael D was the real winner last night!!

cicfada, you seem to be defending Gallagher's attempt at a lie.

Regarding McGuinness's supposed relationship to Morgan, it's probably more likely that Gallagher and FF didn't offer up what he expected to get for the 5 grand he took him down by giving McGuinness a ring with the information. Doesn't mean they have a "relationship" whatever that is supposed to imply.

[sheamy]

Secondly  MMG must have some kind of relationship with Morgan

Him and Armagh and Down GAA county boards then??! 

[Hardy]

I'd expect Hugh Morgan will have something to say about Gallagher today as I don't think he was ever convicted of laundering fuel but rather smuggling in the 90's from the south to the north.

It was smuggling, not laundering Gallagher mentioned. He described him as a convicted criminal and fuel smuggler.

[Ulick]

It was smuggling, not laundering Gallagher mentioned. He described him as a convicted criminal and fuel smuggler.

Apologies.

[liihb]

Mc Guinness is being given credit here when it was Pat Kenny that really laid  it up for him with his "Sinn Fein are going to reveal the donor" comment!Also there was no comment on the relationship between MMG and this   convicted smuggler  as well! After all they had spoken on the phone earlier!! Whichever RTE researcher read the comment on Twitter deserves the praise too. MMG would not have landed any punch of any description without that intervention.  Very entertaining debate though and Norris was so witty. Michael D will probably  end up getting the extra votes now

Whatever researcher it was deserves no praise. Vincent Brown afterwards clarified that the twitter account is not an official one and clarified that SF were not aware of any such press conference with the man in question. So Pat was "laying it on?" If McG didn't make his reveleation, Pat couldn't have laid anything on. Furthermore, in the RTÉ press conference after the debate, McG stated he has no relationship with this person. The man does seem to have a connection to Adams in Louth which is most likely the way it worked out.

Sorry Nally, but he actually did a pretty shit job of sticking it to Gallagher, the twitter account and Pat Kenny's reference did the damage. Gallagher had deflected the issue (if badly) at that stage, but really put his foot in it after the ad break when Kenny questioned him, and then he made a complete balls of it. As for not winning the debate, it seems in this election, its more about not doing anything stupid to lose it rather than doing anything great to win it as they are all average. I still have no clue who I will vote for, but I know I definitely won't vote for Norris, Mitchell, Dana or McGuinness because I don't think any of them are in any way presidential. Gallagher is very close to joining that group also.

[Denn Forever]

Will this election be the downfall of Fianna Fail?  Having been a member of FF is deemed worse than having been a member of the IRA.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Has it been confirmed that the reference was to Hughie Morgan?

The twitter acconts have been confusing me a little during the campaign as well. There are a Martin4Prez account and a McGuinness4Prez account. Am I right in thinking that only the former is official?

[Hardy]

The other one would be provisional, I suppose.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

The other one would be provisional, I suppose.

Indeed 

[sheamy]

Has it been confirmed that the reference was to Hughie Morgan?

The twitter acconts have been confusing me a little during the campaign as well. There are a Martin4Prez account and a McGuinness4Prez account. Am I right in thinking that only the former is official?

Hughie owns the office in Dundalk that SF rent for Adam's consitituency office. I believe Gallagher referred to it in the programme.

What's the difference between Morgan and Gallagher? Well, Morgan puts 10's if not 100's of thousands of pounds into his community via the GAA. Sean Gallagher charges clubs in Louth 5k a piece to fill in grant applications. Neither doing any wrong in the process but I know who I'd support.

[ziggysego]

MMcG clearly won last night and anyone who credits Pat for exposing Gallagher's dirty dealings, clearly have a anti-SF bias and can't attribute anything with MMcG.

However, you're right, Michael D. was the clear winner. Not because of what he did last night, but because MMcG handed him the election.