The leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have again made clear their opposition to entering any coalition government with Sinn Féin in the first major TV debate of the General Election campaign.
During the RTÉ Upfront with Katie Hannon debate, Simon Harris and Micheál Martin were asked about their intentions if both secured a mandate to return to government.
Mr Harris ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin, saying: "I don't mean that in any sort of pejorative sense, it's just being honest with the electorate.
"I think it's important to tell people where you stand on a policy basis and give people choices.
"If people vote for Sinn Féin to be in government, that's their choice, but my party doesn't wish to be a part of any such government."
Mr Martin was asked the same question. He said there were major policy differences between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.
"They're not serious when it comes to pro-enterprise policies," he said. "They opposed our entry into the European Union and every treaty since."
Ms McDonald insisted it was for the electorate to decide which party had a pathway to power.
"I think this election is potentially a historic one," she said.
"Because for the very first time, there is the choice, the opportunity of a government led by neither Fine Gael nor Fianna Fáil, but rather led by Sinn Féin."
Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman said his party had delivered in government and said they had spoken to Sinn Féin on policy priorities after the last general election, but it "wasn't clear to us that there was an alternative government available at that period".
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said people were looking for "constructive change" and said she would speak to "like-minded" centre-left parties.
"We have significant policy differences in Labour with the three biggest parties," she said.
Social Democrats' deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said they would speak to all the parties after the election.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said his party would not go into government with Fine Gael, accusing them of having "incinerated people's money through waste" or the Greens, due to "the damage that's been done to rural Ireland in terms of the pressure put on farmers".
He also called Fianna Fáil an "empty hollow husk" and said of Sinn Féin "we don't know what they stand for".
Michael Collins said Independent Ireland would not whip its TDs on moral issues, but they would on a programme for government, and said they would not rule out any party.
People Before Profit's Richard Boyd Barrett said that they wanted "to end 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rule and see a left government for the first time in the history of this state".
He said there should be a left alliance, to which Ms Bacik agreed, before Joan Collins of Right to Change said she would speak to all "left progressive groups" who are a "serious current".
'Some nerve'
In a testy exchange, Mr Martin accused Sinn Féin of having "some nerve" and of opposing "every single thing that built this country".
He said: "They opposed membership of the European Union, which was transformative. They opposed every trade deal which created hundreds of thousands of jobs.
"They opposed the industrial strategy which led to the multinationals coming here and low corporation taxes.
"You opposed our Constitution for the vast majority of that 100 years, and you murdered gardai and soldiers as well."
Ms McDonald accused Mr Harris and Mr Martin of "politics of entitlement writ large", and Mr Harris interrupted to accuse her of wanting to "airbrush the past".
Mr Harris defended the selection of John McGahon as a Fine Gael candidate in Louth.
Mr McGahon was found not guilty in a trial in 2022 for physically attacking a man outside a Co Louth pub.
Mr Harris said Mr McGahon was selected by the party in Louth and he will remain on the ticket for the 29 November poll.
During the debate, Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald was pressed on her handling of several controversies, including those of former party press officer Michael McMonagle and ex-Sinn Féin senator Niall O Donnghaile.
Ms McDonald insisted she dealt with the various issues "speedily and resolutely".
"And in each instance where there was bad behaviour, poor behaviour dropped beneath standards, there was full accountability and there were very serious consequences," she added.
Mr Harris insisted the police had handled many of the issues related to Sinn Féin, not Ms McDonald.
'Lowest emissions' in decades
Mr O'Gorman said Ireland had the lowest emissions in the country in decades which he argued was because of the actions the Green Party secured in the programme for government.
He accused Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of not agreeing to a measure in the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund in recent weeks.
Mr Martin said when history is written, it will be seen as "the government that turned the dial on climate".
"I think that the Green Party has the attitude, if you don't mind me saying so, that it's your way or no other way. That's a sense that's out there," he said.
Mr O'Gorman replied, "I disagree", prompting the two leaders to argue.
Mr O'Callaghan said that if every measure in the government's climate action plan was implemented, "we still wouldn't meet our emissions target reduction".
"I think the government are leading farmers down the garden path by saying, 'Oh, we can keep this in place, and definitely that will not be the case'," he said.
Mr Harris interjected to say "of course we can keep it in place".
Watch the ten leaders' final pitches here:
'Tied up in knots' over housing
Ms McDonald said it was "astonishing to hear" Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil suggest that first-time buyers' housing grants were a "panacea" to the housing crisis when it was "an admission of failure and defeat".
"Schemes like that and interventions like that should only ever be temporary," she said.
Mr Tóibín said the government was "tied up in knots" on housing and proposed an "Operation Shamrock", which would look to attract construction workers from abroad.
Mr O'Callaghan said Mr Martin promised on a TV debate in 2020 to provide 50,000 affordable purchase homes on State land.
He said: "Then he went into government, sold off public land, and we've got less than 1,000 affordable purchase homes since Fianna Fáil took over the housing (department)."
Mr O'Gorman answered questions on the party's housing spokesperson Francis Noel Duffy objecting to a housing development because it overlooked his home.
"If we think that's not something any politician should do, we could change the law to do that, but that's the system we have in place," he said.
Mr Boyd Barrett said a failure on housing was because the State "has allowed people driven by profit to come to control the housing sector in this country - vulture funds, property investors, speculators".
Mr Martin said "Fianna Fáil has made a difference on housing" and said that a state construction company would "take years" to establish and accused it of being "more delay, more disruption".
He added: "Richard, your proposals would destroy the construction industry," to which Mr Boyd Barrett said Mr Martin's party had "destroyed the economy".
