Debate analysis from Brian Dowling of RTÉ's Political Staff:
Each of the leaders were questioned on cronyism during last night's debate, and it threw everyone.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny accepted responsibility for the appointment of John McNulty to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) board during the debate, but later suggested he was taking broader responsibility, as Taoiseach, for the appointment.
Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams seemed equally uncomfortable when questioned about appointments made by his party in the Northern Executive - it did not sound terribly convincing.
Micheál Martin, who was questioned about a Celia Larkin appointment, and Joan Burton, who was questioned on a recent David Begg appointment to the pensions board, both began by trying to defend the character of the person they appointed - but that was not the issue.
Did we learn anything new? Well, there was an element of weariness among all of the leaders. Although a short campaign, there was an intensity for those involved as they are out and about every day.
But there was nothing particularly new and there were no big revelations that will shift the mood of the undecided voters decisively in one direction or another.
Ms Burton, by far, had her best performance of these debates. It was not the best of nights for Mr Adams though.
When you are in at this level, the detail does matter. And Mr Adams struggled with the detail when discussing Sinn Féin's health policy.
Health is a big issue and people do look for detail on these big issues. Mr Adams talking about hiring lots more consultants simply lacked details.
Mr Kenny ran into difficulty when asked who would benefit most from his party's proposal to abolish the Universal Social Charge (USC).
He said that everyone would benefit from their proposals, even though the question was will those earning most benefit more from the Fine Gael proposal.
This campaign has been driven almost exclusively around the party leaders, perhaps not what we might have expected at the beginning.
The leaders need to have an overall view and a command of most of the detail in most of the critical areas.
But the focus this time put them into a level of detail you might expect would emerge mainly when you have a party spokesperson on the areas of jobs or health coming forward.
Listen to Brian Dowling's full analysis on Morning Ireland, here...
Tánaiste finally paddles her own canoe
Last night's leaders debate was the first time in the election campaign that Tánaiste Joan Burton "shoved the Labour canoe away from the Fine Gael battleship".
That was the opinion of former Fianna Fáil adviser Paddy Duffy.
Mr Duffy was speaking as part of a panel on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke.
Mr Duffy also summed up Taoiseach Enda Kenny's week by saying he had "gone from 'Whingergate' to 'IMMA-gate' in recent days" and that it was "quite striking" that Mr Kenny appeared to admit for the first time that he made the controversial appointment of John McNulty to the IMMA board.
Speaking on the same programme, DCU School of Law and Government Professor Gary Murphy said he felt the various leaders were mostly "ducking and diving, but not very successfully" and claimed that the "story of the campaign so far had been the weakness of the Taoiseach's performance".
Also on the panel were Irish Independent Editor Fionnan Sheahan and Irish Examiner columnist Alison O'Connor.
Ms O'Connor said: "In the round, the three leaders' debates have been very important to the campaign."
When pushed for predictions for Friday's big day, all four members of the panel felt that a hung Dáil appeared inevitable.
Paddy Duffy said: "I think we will see Fianna Fáil supporting a minority Fine Gael government after a hung Dáil."
Fionnan Sheahan suggested: "We will have a hung Dáil, followed by the President Michael Higgins refusing to dissolve for a second election and instructing the relevant parties to work it out."
Gary Murphy felt that a "large trench of Fianna Fáil TDs - possibly as many as 40 - supporting Fine Gael would be hard to put together".
Alison O'Connor, also predicting a hung Dáil, said: "You may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" before also suggesting that a Fine Gael government supported by Fianna Fáil may be the most likely outcome.
Listen to the panel discussion on Today with Sean O'Rourke, here...
Debate 'bad TV and bad politics'
Last night's debate has been labelled "appalling" and "not just bad TV, but bad politics" by Sunday Business Post Political Editor Pat Leahy.
Mr Leahy was speaking on a panel on RTÉ's Morning Ireland when he made the comments.
He also said he was "not surprised that [RTÉ] vox-pop reporters had difficulty finding people who watched it".
He added: "There was very little there that we haven't heard before. This was a real missed opportunity to change the direction of the election - and probably the last opportunity."
On the same panel, Sunday Times Political Correspondent Sarah McInerney commented that the debate "really was quite dull".
Ms McInerney said: "People just simply were not answering the questions they were asked and quite transparently not answering the questions they were asked."
RTÉ Political Correspondent David Davin-Power felt that the leaders' "evasions were really annoying" during the debate.
He summed up proceedings, saying: "The debate was reflective of the campaign... it never really caught fire."
Listen to the panel discussion on Morning Ireland, here...
