Election 2011 Offical Thread.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Gormley - he could have gone out for a pint of wheatgrass and no one would have noticed. Greens will be obselete in three weeks time.
Gilmore - much more offensive and animated than last week. Failed to land any blows though.
Kenny - had a fairly easy ride. Held himself together well and no major foot in mouth moments.
Martin - a hypocrite.
Adams - vast improvement on previous performances but fantasy economics will limit the Shinners potential gains.

Just caught the end of it so missed most of the action. I still dislike token leadership 'debates' and am curious whether we learned anything new tonight at all?

However sadly stunts like this may influence voters so looking comments here and at p.ie and here is it fair to read it as:

Gerry and Enda came out better than they went in
Gilmore better than last time but no great ground made
Martin had a poor night
Gormley performed adequately

That would be a fair summation.

I doubt many voters are influenced greatly by these things. The papers will eek plenty of column inches out of it though.

[armaghniac]

Like a game where you are winning, Enda simply needed to be tidy and not drop the ball and give it to the opposition. He will be happy enough.

[mylestheslasher]

I thought kenny and gilmore were poor, Martin was a disaster and Adams and gormley did well in that they were able to communicate with the audience. Will it change many minds, maybe not.

[ziggysego]

Gormley and Adams did well tonight. Martin made a hames of it. Gilmore did do too badly and Kenny.... too slick for my liking.

[LaurelEye]

Adams - comfortably exceeded expectations in that he came across as being reasonably familiar with the system down here (unlike 2007 when he seemed clueless) and connected well to the audience, even if there was still the odd platitude.

Gilmore - better than the last night and tackled Martin on his past and Kenny on his economic projections, but then pretended he hadn't facilitated the budget when he had and was out of the debate for long periods.

Gormley - largely irrelevant. Spouting on about f***ing list systems when asked about emigration made me feel like throwing something at the TV.

Kenny - stilted as ever, reciting things that he'd learnt off, and sticking in slogans, but didn't fall over or make any major mistakes, so exceeded expectations.

Martin - Martin's problem (during this debate as well as the last) is that he has to defend what he did for the last fourteen years and being assertive about it simply pisses off an already pissed-off population. The cat fight with Adams may have lost as many votes as it won, and an aggressive debate persona loses him the sympathy vote that he got from the initial contrition when he became leader. He made a potentially good point about the potential cost of FG's health insurance scheme but no-one from this government has any credibility on the issue, so it was wasted.

All in all, a wash. It won't sway anyone who wasn't already leaning towards a particular party.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Well done Enda and Gerry. By the day I want a Fine Gael majority and if not SF partners.

[stiffler]

Are pat and enda kenny related? Two dislikable hoors

[Banana Man]

tbh i thought martin came out of it well (sly digs aside), Gilmore was the worst by a country mile, gormley is irrelevant, Kenny surprised me, thought he was solid and Adams done what everyone in the north knows he's capable of i.e. walking it into the lads.

Someone said Adams was going on about fantasy economics there, but it couldn't be any more fantasy than the last 3 years, people like lenihan saying they are economically illiterate after his party have driven the state into the ground needs pinned on this absolute untruth

[mylestheslasher]

tbh i thought martin came out of it well (sly digs aside), Gilmore was the worst by a country mile, gormley is irrelevant, Kenny surprised me, thought he was solid and Adams done what everyone in the north knows he's capable of i.e. walking it into the lads.

Someone said Adams was going on about fantasy economics there, but it couldn't be any more fantasy than the last 3 years, people like lenihan saying they are economically illiterate after his party have driven the state into the ground needs pinned on this absolute untruth

Don't agree on Martin and the main reason was his pathetic defense of the HSE and what a good job thats been done. That was the question he should have expected and he answered it very poorly imo - he should have talked about the future and avoided the past but he did the opposite and all 4 other leaders nailed the HSE for the mess it is.

[AZOffaly]

I caught an hour of it, and I think I concur with SS' reading of it above.

From left to right:

Gormley, might as well have been in the audience asking the questions, and is obviously a one issue politician, but in fairness he is good on that issue. Otherwise he was like a guiet gossun standing in the corner. His plaintive 'I'm havent' had as much time as the rest of them' was heart rending.

Gilmore. I thought he was robust at least. Seemed passionate at times, but as others have said, not much in the way of telling blows apart from overplaying the Sinn Fein support of the bank guarantee, which he played like an old fiddle.

Kenny. Centre stage, and didn't do much wrong. He is *very* scripted, and very metronomic. Reciting learned lines and party slogans like ' Get Ireland Working'. However he is coming in from a position of strength, and unless he really tries to f**k it up, he should be safe enough. He didn't drop the ball last night though, and probably escaped any damage.

Martin. I thought it was a bad night for him. Came across as ultra defensive, which of course he should be, and also sort of sneaky and snide. He didn't even try, in the hour I saw, to take Kenny on at all, which is unusual for FF and FG. He seemed more worried about Sinn Fein and Labour. Running his race for second place?

Adams. I thought he 'came across' as the best of the 5. Of course an examination of the policies might be uncomfortable for him, as trying to save billions on populist measures like cutting TD's salaries seems a bit like the loaves and the fishes. His constant reiteration of the fact that the other 4 parties are supporting the EU/IMF deal was a good scorer for him, and he cleverly drew the distinction between the sovereign debt and the banking debt. Unfortunately, I think what Gerry is espousing is what most people would love to do, but do the sums add up? I am unconvinced.


All in all, for what it's worth, I'd have scored the bout as follows, from my hour. Simply on what I saw, and simply on their performance last night.

Adams 7/10
Gilmore 6/10
Kenny 6/10
Gormley 5/10 (Almost a 'not on long enough to be rated')
Martin 5/10

[An Gaeilgoir]

Gormley and Adams did well tonight. Martin made a hames of it. Gilmore did do too badly and Kenny.... too slick for my liking.

Aren't you luck you aren't having to vote for them! Gormley did well? did you have a different feed to the rest of us, what did he contribute to the debate, besides sucking up to Kenny. As for Adams, he even managed to get a dig in at the DUP, wrong country there Gerry!

[sammymaguire]

very little substance in what went on last night which was a shame for the people watching

I think if Gerry had his numbers right he would have been much more credible, as for the rest as possible Taoiseach's, its rather depressing, hardly any Obama-like figures amongst them.

Leaders they are not imo

[lawnseed]

Gormley and Adams did well tonight. Martin made a hames of it. Gilmore did do too badly and Kenny.... too slick for my liking.

Aren't you luck you aren't having to vote for them! Gormley did well? did you have a different feed to the rest of us, what did he contribute to the debate, besides sucking up to Kenny. As for Adams, he even managed to get a dig in at the DUP, wrong country there Gerry!                     
thats the point gaeilgor sinn fein dont see ireland as two separate countries in the new ireland the dup are an integral part of the political scene and i think a driving force. given a choice between the duppers and what you have to choose from...

[Banana Man]

Gormley and Adams did well tonight. Martin made a hames of it. Gilmore did do too badly and Kenny.... too slick for my liking.

Aren't you luck you aren't having to vote for them! Gormley did well? did you have a different feed to the rest of us, what did he contribute to the debate, besides sucking up to Kenny. As for Adams, he even managed to get a dig in at the DUP, wrong country there Gerry!

wrong country??? wrong jurisdiction maybe but not wrong country pal

[Banana Man]

tbh i thought martin came out of it well (sly digs aside), Gilmore was the worst by a country mile, gormley is irrelevant, Kenny surprised me, thought he was solid and Adams done what everyone in the north knows he's capable of i.e. walking it into the lads.

Someone said Adams was going on about fantasy economics there, but it couldn't be any more fantasy than the last 3 years, people like lenihan saying they are economically illiterate after his party have driven the state into the ground needs pinned on this absolute untruth

that's a fair point myles, i had forgot that actually

Don't agree on Martin and the main reason was his pathetic defense of the HSE and what a good job thats been done. That was the question he should have expected and he answered it very poorly imo - he should have talked about the future and avoided the past but he did the opposite and all 4 other leaders nailed the HSE for the mess it is.