Ahern shades it but fails to land knockout
? Taoiseach scores on tax and crime ? Kenny wins well on health
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and FG leader Enda Kenny shake hands before the Prime Time debate with Miriam O'Callaghan
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Friday May 18 2007
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night failed to land the crucial knock-out blow in the highly anticipated leaders' debate.
Mr Ahern slightly shaded the exchanges in the TV showdown.
But he could not deliver the clear victory observers believed he needed to pull back the Fine Gael leader's advantage in the general election
Mr Ahern was constantly harassed by an uncharacteristically combative and fresh-looking Mr Kenny.
Seemingly buoyed up by his strong showing in the opinion polls, Mr Kenny put on one of his best TV performances.
But Mr Ahern showed his experience by making some clever and telling points at key parts of the debate.
While Mr Kenny won the health debate, Mr Ahern sucker punched him on personal taxation and crime statistics, as he picked away at identified chinks in the Fine Gael armour.
But Mr Ahern again showed his grasp of the minutiae.
And it was on the issues of the tax and crime that he scored best. Mr Ahern didn't do enough, however, to make a major impact on public opinion as Mr Kenny acquitted himself adequately. Mr Ahern obviously went into the debate knowing he had ground to make up.
But despite his strong showing he didn't do enough to damage Mr Kenny's credibility.
Mr Kenny was unexpectedly aggressive and able to mix it in the skirmishes.
Mr Ahern did land a blow on tax, when Mr Kenny flustered and had no answer to the Taoiseach's claim the rich would benefit most under Fine Gael.
"I want to thank you for being honest. I now know it is a matter of choice that you have decided the top 3pc should benefit most [from Fine Gael]," he said.
At times, the debate got largely bogged down in statistics.
It took an entire 20 minutes for the two leaders to actually engage even on a minor level.
Mr Ahern disagreed with Mr Kenny's claim that new ethics laws were needed.
He said existing legislation already covered the receipt of any payments more than €499.
Mr Kenny failed to get his point across and Mr Ahern somehow managed to score.
The real sparring began when the debate moved on to health.
Mr Kenny hit the Taoiseach with a volley of personal cases of people waiting for treatment and tried to embarrass Mr Ahern on waiting lists.
Mr Ahern came back repeatedly on the Fine Gael costings for the 2,300 beds claiming Mr Kenny's party was double counting, but he failed to pin down the FG leader.
Payroll
And Mr Kenny forced Mr Ahern into defending PPARS, the infamous health service computer payroll system.
Mr Kenny did surprisingly well on the economy and started by giving credit to the Taoiseach for his handling of it for the past 10 years.
When the debate moved on to crime though - one of Fine Gael's traditional strong points - Mr Ahern scored a direct hit as Mr Kenny admitted his party got its figures wrong on crime statistics.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael spindoctors both declared victory after the debate.
Fine Gael director of elections Frank Flannery said the debate confirmed Mr Kenny is ready to be Taoiseach.
"While Bertie Ahern relied on statistics to hide his government's failures, Enda Kenny relayed personal stories from the thousands of people he's met throughout the country. These are the people suffering from a health service in shambles, rampant crime, and soaring cost of living," he said.
FF director of elections PJ Mara said Mr Kenny raised more questions about himself than he answered about the country and the Taoiseach put in a strong, statesman-like performance.
"This is the first time we have seen Enda Kenny submit himself to intense debate in this campaign and quite simply he fell apart," he said. Mr Ahern went into the televised leaders' debate knowing he more than likely had to deliver a knockout blow to his rival to remain in power.
Following a disastrous campaign so far, Mr Ahern was fighting for his political survival.
Arriving at RTE for the debate, Mr Kenny was said to look more comfortable, even though Fine Gael were nervous about how he would cope.
- Fionnan Sheahan and Gene McKenna
