Ireland South stretches from Bantry to Bray, declared co-presenter Miriam O’Callaghan in her introductory remarks, underlying the vast size of this European Parliament constituency.
It consists of 10 counties which are home to 1.8m people, with 23 candidates battling it out for 5 seats.
4 sitting MEPs were in the Prime-Time studio, along with 4 other candidates who are intent on unseating them.
The first issue up for discussion was the thorny problem of migration but it didn’t draw the expected fireworks.
Instead, the candidates methodically set out their stalls on how to deal with the increase in claims.
There was a broad acceptance that the State needed to drastically improve the efficiency of its assessment processes.
Views on the EU’s new Pact on Asylum and Migration were more polarised.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher backed it; Independent TD Michael McNamara supported aspects of it, while Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan had huge concerns over sovereignty and human rights.
Labour’s Niamh Hourigan opined that individual states can act effectively, while Rabharta Cllr Lorna Bogue totally opposed the Pact as it was the lowest common denominator.
Independents4Change MEP Mick Wallace argued the government had failed on migration for years, but Fine Gael candidate John Mullins echoed the Taoiseach’s mantra that the Coalition was rapidly introducing a firm but fair policy.
Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan conceded she was uncomfortable with aspects of the new EU policy.
The second topic was agriculture: the point when the candidates got stuck into each other rather than waiting for either Miriam O’Callaghan or co-presenter Fran McNulty to ask questions.
The main focus was on whether the candidates supported reducing the size of the national herd and if they’d fight to retain the derogation from the Nitrates Directive.
Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan said that her party is not calling for a cull but added the national herd needs to be looked at from a “climate perspective”.
On nitrates, she surprised the panel by producing a small bottle and saying: I don’t want my water contaminated.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher expressed that he was very confident that that existing nitrates limit could be retained.
He argued that it was possible to maintain the existing agricultural output while reducing environmental impacts and protect 160,000 jobs.
Fine Gael candidate John Mullins suggested that farmers feel under siege and the family farm can’t be hollowed-out by what he termed destabilising policies.
He contended that there needed to be more testing of water quality as it wasn’t just farming which was responsible.
Cllr Lorna Bogue argued that she supported climate action, which was effective and, if farmers were to be restricted in the land they could use, well then they would have to be compensated.
John Mullins interjected to say farmers didn’t want handouts, but Ms Bogue countered that the government allowed farmers to be at the mercy of big processors.
Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan accused the government of being responsible for a whole generation of young people wondering about the merits of a career in farming.
He rejected suggestions that his party had flip flopped on big EU green policies, like the Nature Restoration Law.
Independents4Change MEP Mick Wallace backed the Nature Restoration Law but condemned EU agriculture policy in which 80% of money is going to the richest 20% of farmers.
He claimed EU policies meant that Irish small and medium sized farm families had been thrown to the wind.
Independent TD Michael McNamara suggested there was a lazy assumption afoot that farmers with a nitrates derogation were somehow responsible for damaging water quality.
He countered that they were among the most inspected group of farmers, and people should look elsewhere for culprits like the ongoing failure to upgrade sewage plants.
Labour’s Niamh Hourigan focused her contribution on the need to restructure the Common Agricultural Policy to assist medium sized and small farms.
She said this needed to happen at the same time as aligning CAP with new environmental policies.
The final section focused on defence and security and was the liveliest segment of the debate.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said he wouldn’t vote to re-elect Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission President and had condemned her visit to Israel.
Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan pressed him on what his party might do, adding the government should have adopted rather than stalled Occupied Territories Bill.
Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan declared that Irish people want neutrality defended at all costs, but added the triple lock isn’t functioning and how we deploy peacekeepers needs to change.
Rabharta Cllr Lorna Bogue was completely opposed to changing the triple lock, saying in her view she didn’t believe that there was a realistic prospect of Russia invading a country like Estonia.
Labour candidate Niamh Hourigan said her party was against the removal of the triple lock on the basis that guarantees on neutrality had been given to the Irish people in previous referendums.
Asked about his voting record regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Independents4Change Mick Wallace said he wanted everyone to be held to account for their actions – that included Russian action in Ukraine as well as Israeli action in Gaza.
Independent Michael McNamara says he wouldn’t support Ms von der Leyen’s re-election, adding he didn’t believe that giving anyone an unequivocal backing in the name of the EU is a good thing to do.
The debate ended with a quickfire round of the candidates.
The audience had been provided with an insight into the 8 candidates and their policies.
