Tonight, on Prime Time, RTE will host the final “debate” of the European Election campaign, focused on the four-seat constituency of Dublin. I’m putting “debate” in inverted commas because, despite RTE’s taxpayer funded status as a “public service broadcaster”, only eight hand-picked candidates will be featured on stage, out of the nineteen people contesting the election on Friday. Notable for their absence will be Independent Ireland’s Niall Boylan – widely tipped to be in the mix for a seat – as well as other prominent independents like Imam Umar Al Qadri, Malachy Steenson, and Brendan Ogle, and Sinn Fein’s second candidate, Daithi Doolan.
The ”chosen eight” are largely who you might expect from RTE: Regina Doherty of Fine Gael, Barry Andrews of Fianna Fail, Aodhan O’Riordain of Labour, Lynn Boylan of Sinn Fein, sitting MEP Clare Daly, Brid Smith of People before Profit, Ciaran Cuffe of the Green Party, and Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats. As you can see, a wide range of views will be on offer, ranging from the centre-left Regina Doherty to the eco-communism of Brid Smith and the “second look at the Soviet Union?” views of Clare Daly.
Nevertheless, the debate has the potential to illuminate some views and positions of the candidates that the public might not be aware of. In that spirit, here’s a question that RTE should pose of each candidate:
To Regina Doherty: You are on record as saying that in Ireland, there are not just two genders (male and female) but that we recognise as many as nine genders. Can you name those nine genders?
To Barry Andrews: Your EU parliament group, ALDE Renew Europe, says it is totally committed to Ukrainian membership of the European Union. How much will this cost Irish taxpayers in terms of the enormous demand for structural funds, and what will the impact be on migration flows to Ireland once free movement and EU citizenship is extended to every Ukrainian?
To Ciaran Cuffe: Your EU parliament group, the European Greens, says it is in favour of a mandatory re-location system for migrants in Europe, with each country compelled to take a certain number of migrants per year. Can you tell us precisely how many people that would work out as, annually, for Ireland?
To Clare Daly: On the first of May, just four weeks ago, you said: “In the next month 600,000 plastic posters will go up all over the country, for EU and local elections. None recycled, all exposed to the elements, all eyesores leaking millions of microplastic particles into the environment. I for one will not be using them in my campaign.”
Despite this, over the last week, hundreds if not thousands of diamond posters with your name on them have appeared around Dublin. If you can’t keep a promise for a month, how can anyone trust you for five years?
To Brid Smith: Your party policy states that gender reassignment surgery (the removal of the penis and testicles, or breasts in a female, and the surgical construction of a neo-vagina or neo-penis) should be free in Ireland and paid for by the taxpayer. At what age does your party believe should a person be legally permitted to get this surgery?
To Aodhán O’Riordain: You and your party spend a lot of time talking about the housing crisis and the need for more homes in Dublin. Can you tell us exactly how many units of housing that you, personally, have submitted planning objections to over the past ten years?
To Lynn Boylan: The Sinn Fein EU election manifesto says that your party wants to “Ensure ambitious climate action that’s fair and makes corporate polluters pay.” Any list of the largest corporate polluters in Ireland would include Aer Lingus and Ryanair – so how much will you make them pay, and if the purpose of making them pay is to reduce pollution, how many fewer flights will Irish people be able to afford under Sinn Fein?
To Sinead Gibney: When you were chair of the Irish Human Rights and Equality commission, that body published a report on hate speech, arguing that it should be further regulated. One of the examples of hate speech given in the report was “we should look after our own”. Do you stand over that? Is a candidate who says that we should look after our own people first guilty of hate speech?
There are, of course, many other questions that could be asked of each candidate – for example Clare Daly might be asked why she’s so supportive of EU sanctions on Israel, but so opposed to them for Russia, Iran, and Syria. Or Ciaran Cuffe might be asked what will become of businesses in central Dublin once cars are effectively banned from the city.
And perhaps all candidates might be asked, in an ideal world, about what they think of RTE confining the debate to only eight candidates, ranging from the left to the far left.
I suspect, though, that you shouldn’t get your hopes up.