Tonight we’re on at the earlier time of 9.35pm and we’ve got quite the line-up – Minister Mary Hanafin (Fianna Fáil), Minister Barry Andrews (Fianna Fáil), Sean Barrett, TD (Fine Gael), Senator Ivana Bacik (Labour), Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit Alliance), Mary Mitchell O’Connor (Fine Gael) and Independent candidate, Victor Boyhan. They’ve got at least (and possibly only) one thing in common – they’re all candidates in the next election in the Dún Laoghaire constituency and will be fighting it out for just four seats in what has been referred to by sitting TD Barry Andrews as ‘The Group of Death’.
Sinn Fein were invited but they told us they don’t yet have a candidate in the constituency.
So would a change to the party leader impact on the fortunes of Fianna Fáil candidates and does it matter to voters? With the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party voting tomorrow on a confidence motion in their leader, Brian Cowen, we’ll be asking Mary Hanafin how she’ll be voting and why, and talking to Barry Andrews about his continuing support for the Taoiseach as leader of Fianna Fáil.
We'll also try to tease out the differences between the candidates on the big national issues in the general election campaign
As always we’ll be getting audience reaction and hopefully lots of comments from you at home.
