There was no “gamechanger” moment for either presidential candidate in the final debate before polling day, a politics expert has told Behind the Story.
The first live Behind the Story podcast was broadcast immediately following the Prime Time presidential election debate with the election just days away.
Professor of Politics at DCU, Gary Murphy, said there can be a danger to polls.
“One of the dangers of being so far ahead in the polls is that a slight, sort of arrogance can maybe seep into your higher consciousness,” he suggested.
“I don’t think Catherine Connolly suffered from that tonight, but the use of the present tense was very instructive I thought”.
Prof Murphy said Heather Humpreys being unable to name one specific time she criticised the European Union was unusual.
“Just off the top of my head if you were in Fine Gael you could have said, ‘In 2011 when the bailout came, the EU was pretty hard balled about this and we could have a better interest rate’ – something like that”.
Read more: 7 key takeaways from final presidential debate
Prof Murphy told the panel he is not sure if voters will be convinced.
“I’m not persuaded that anyone would have changed their mind if their mind isn’t made up”, he said.
“If their mind isn’t made up, I’m not so sure it will have persuaded them even to go to the ballot box on Friday.
“Catherine Connolly has not resiled one bit from any of her positions she’s taken since July in this campaign.
“Heather Humphreys I thought started pretty well… and had a very good answer at the end – but in the middle where the questions became more specific, I think she struggled pretty significantly,” he added.
Katie, Fran and David were also joined by Prime Time hosts Miriam O’Callaghan and Sarah McInerney to get their take on the night’s events.
You can listen to Behind the Story which is available on the RTÉ Radio Player.
You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.