The leaders of Ireland’s three main parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, clashed on issues such as health and housing in the final TV debate before the weekend’s general election.
During the RTÉ debate, Fine Gael leader and incumbent Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called on voters to back his Fine Gael party and reject Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin in a "change election".
The government elected in 2016 which saw Varadkar become Ireland’s premier was formed by a coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, after no party was able to secure a majority.
160 members of the Dáil Éireann are elected, with 80 seats needed for a majority government.
Should Fine Gael once again fall short, Varadkar said he would work with parties such as Labour, Independents, the Greens and the Social Democrats to form a new government.
He emphatically ruled out entering into any arrangement with Sinn Féin, adding that he would work with Fianna Fáil again as a “last resort”.
Varadkar said: "What I won't do is negotiate a coalition with Sinn Féin. I'm concerned about their past, but I'm much more concerned about the present and the future.”
Sinn Féin’s president Mary Lou McDonald called Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil almost identical parties, adding that the Irish electorate was beginning to recognise Sinn Féin as a viable alternative to more of the same.
She added: "The worst outcome is Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil together again for the next four or five years. My objective is to sort out housing, to ensure that workers and families have a break.”
Fine Gael as a party does not have a strong track record on housing and homelessness, but Varadkar moved to reassure that his party was working on improving social housing provision.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin added that housing was the “burning issue” of the whole campaign.
Martin said: “We have to build more affordable homes directly... on state land, and we have to build council houses as well on state land and more of them.”
Furthermore, the healthcare sector in the Republic of Ireland is blighted by rising hospital waiting lists, with all three leaders offering different solutions.
McDonald and Sinn Féin have pledged to provide more hospital beds to solve what they see as a “capacity issue”, while Varadkar and Fine Gael are promising more investment into the sector.
Meanwhile, Martin and Fianna Fáil have defended their policy, which would be to implement a four-hour waiting time target for patients in Emergency Departments to be seen.
The election will occur this Saturday, with the counting of votes taking place the following day.
