TV DEBATE:A TV election debate in Irish among party leaders will take place in Galway this day week between Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael's Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore of the Labour Party.
It will be the first time a television debate of this kind has been staged outside Dublin and it will also be the first of the three-way TV debates of the campaign.
The 50-minute discussion will be broadcast after the 7pm evening news bulletin on the Irish-language station TG4 and will be moderated by chief news presenter Eimear Ní Chonaola.
The programme will be subtitled in English and repeated later that night at 10.30pm. The debate will be held at TG4 headquarters in Baile na hAbhann, some 30km west of Galway city.
For technical reasons related to the subtitling process, it is believed the debate may have to be recorded earlier in the day. There will be no studio audience. A statement from TG4 said the debate “will cover all the main issues – the economy, employment, the public finances, political reform, emigration and health”.
The statement adds: “Given the location and context of this particular debate, diverging party views on issues like the Irish language, education, regional development, agriculture and fisheries are bound to add further spice to the exchanges.”
