Campaign Daily is up and running

By Mark Little

We got the first edition of Campaign Daily out without any major mishaps this Monday afternoon. The programme was born out of the 2007 general election and – this time around - devotes a full hour between noon and 1PM to the issues and personalities shaping the European elections, local elections and two Dublin by-elections.

It’s one of those shows that rewards you for paying attention (and that goes for the presenter as well as the viewer). The centre-piece today was the battle for the massive North-West constituency which touches 11 counties from Killybegs to Kinnegad. The colour of the campaign trail was captured in a nicely paced piece from RTE’s North-West Correspondent Eileen Magnier.

Then it was my turn to question six of the candidates in the constituency. These are the toughest debates to chair given the pressure of time, the multitude of issues, the need to be absolutely balanced in our treatment of each candidate and the fact that all six candidates were gathered at a live link in Galway while I’m in studio in Dublin. Adding to our difficulty, with seconds to air, we were missing a guest.

I decided to try something a little different, asking candidates to ask a question of each other. They seemed to enjoy the notion of putting each other on the spot.

The programme included great analysis from our Europe Editor Sean Whelan about the broader changes the European elections will bring about and a sharp analysis of current polling in the local and European campaigns by Brian Dowling. And to top it all, we got Damien Mulley and Adam Maguire to rate the online campaign efforts of the candidates and the parties.

My only regret is that we didn’t get a chance to use some of the questions we received via Twitter – which covered everything from Declan Ganley’s campaign to fisheries to cancer care. I’m determined to make better use of our Twitter accounts during the next two weeks, so keep the faith. We’re on a learning curve here.