The debate extended beyond the RTÉ studios.
Aside from creaking floorboards and Gerry Adams channeling his best Spanish impression during the closing statements, the recent Leader’s Debate on RTÉ was just like the ones that preceded it. Housing, mental health (briefly), climate change, rural broadband and political regrets were all mentioned but for large parts of the discussion, shouting matches erupted in the studio.
We lost count of the amount of times that Miriam O’Callaghan had to reprimand Gerry Adams for talking too much, she frequently looked like a strict schoolteacher that was disciplining a child, as things got particularly heated between Adams and Joan Burton.
In keeping with some of the tweets that were sent by the majority of the political parties during this General Election, passions spilled over onto social media as the debate got very heated between Labour and Sinn Féin on Twitter last night.
Obviously the social media accounts of nearly every political party tried to spin the debate and answers in their own favor but these two tweets were getting a lot of attention for obvious reasons.
Take a look at the initial tweet from Labour and Sinn Féin’s response.
.@labour Desperate stuff from a shower of sellouts facing electoral annihilation & rich from the party that absorbed Workers Party/OIRA
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) February 23, 2016
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
