'Ridiculous' - Limerick mayoral candidate expresses anger at RTÉ snub

THERE'S criticism of RTÉ after the bookmakers' two favourites for the role of Limerick mayor were excluded from the main part of a televised election debate.

On Monday next, Upfront with Katie Hannon will hold an election debate in Limerick, with eight of the candidates for the prestigious new role invited to take part in a podium discussion.

However, two Independent candidates in the race for the office, John Moran and Helen O'Donnell will not be among those invited to the main stage.

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Mr Moran - who is odds on favourite to win the election according to Boyle Sports - believes he is being "silenced" by the national broadcaster.

"The sad truth is that Katie Hannon, her team - and more importantly the people of Limerick - have been let down by this ridiculous, deeply flawed and exclusionary process, imposed by RTE top brass. The voice of independent candidates like me who have never been a member of a political party and therefore can put Limerick above party politics and rules should not be silenced in this way," he said.

Instead, like a number of other election hopefuls, he, Helen O'Donnell and other independents will be asked to speak for just 60 seconds.

For its part, RTE outlined the criteria approved by the its election steering group to quality to appear on the television debates.

The criteria for selection are if the candidate is currently an elected TD, councillor, or senator, if a candidate didn't get elected, but achieved more than 5% of the vote in their constituency at the last election.

On top of this, RTE stipulated a person can appear if their party won at least two seats in the last general elections, five seats in the last local election, or 5% of more of the national vote in any of these. The fourth factor in deciding who will go on stage, said RTE, is on the basis of the party with the greatest number of elected TDs, Senators and councillors.

All this means that first-time Independent candidates Mr Moran and Ms O'Donnell - a 2/1, second-favourite shot for the job with Boyle Sports - will miss out on the main part of the debate, which airs at 9.35pm on Monday night.

"There are 15 candidates contesting the mayoral election and it is not possible to host a debate with 15 candidates on stage.

The panel is limited to eight qualifying candidates," a letter from Upfront editor Janet Traynor to Mr Moran reads.

Separately, five of the 15 candidates did not take part in the first mayoral election debate, held at Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Moylish on Tuesday night

Fourteen were invited, with the 15th, Colm Ó'Móráin not contacted as his declaraton for the inaugural contest came after a deadline set by the event's organisers, Limerick Chamber.

Solidarity-People Before Profit candidate Ruairi Fahy said childcare commitments kept him out of Tuesday's debate, while it was a busy work schedule which meant secondary school teacher Caitríona Ní Chatháin was unable to attend the TUS Millennium Theatre.

Gerben Uunk of the Animal Welfare party claimed he did accept an invite to take part in the event, but ended up sitting in the audience rather then being on stage as a candidate.

Aontu's Sarah Beasley has not returned a request for comment on her own absence.

Mr Ó'Móráin said: "The official period to register to run in the election was between Monday, May 13 and Saturday, May 18. I received no formal invitation, no communication, no outreach from [Limerick Chamber] or TUS about this debate. So here we are."

He attempted to talk to the event's moderator Pat Leahy of the Irish Times to take part, but was unable to.

Sean Golden, economist at the Chamber said all candidates were asked to respond to an invitation to take part in the debate by Wednesday, May 8.

"Given the logistics of the event - 300 people in person, 600-plus people online - we needed time, and to understand the numbers of candidates so we could get it all in a working order. To be fair to all other candidates, we asked them to RSVP in an agreed amouint of time. If someone turns up on the night at 6.30pm and wants to be included, it's impossible to accommodate it," Mr Golden said.