Posters for Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and  Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin in Dublin city centre

CONFIRMED: The first head-to-head debate of the #GE2020 campaign – between FG leader @LeoVaradkar and FF leader @MichealMartinTD – to air on Virgin Media One this Wednesday at 9:30pm. 75-minute debate to be moderated by Pat Kenny. @VirginMediaNews @virginmedia_one

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) January 20, 2020

A seven-way debate will be broadcast on Thursday 30 January moderated by Ivan Yates and Matt Cooper. #ge2020 @virginmedia_one

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) January 20, 2020

Meanwhile…

Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has written to Virgin Media objecting to the two-way debate, saying:

“As Sinn Féin director of elections I have written to Virgin Media in relation to their decision to hold a ‘head to head’ debate between the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, two parties that received less than 50 per cent support in the last election.

“I believe that facilitating a debate in the manner proposed is capable of affecting the outcome of the election by presenting the electorate with a false, binary choice between two parties with virtually the same policies.

“BAI rules acknowledge that broadcasters have a statutory obligation to ensure that all news and current affairs programming is fair, objective and impartial.

“How Virgin Media can justify excluding Sinn Féin and the people we represent from this debate is beyond me.

“There is no substantial difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Their policies are much the same and this can be seen over their past four years in Government together.

“I am calling on Virgin Media to make public the criteria applied in reaching this decision.

“They should reverse this decision immediately and have a debate that’s actually representative of Irish society.”

Pearse Doherty TD writes to Virgin Media objecting to Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil head to head debate (Sinn Féin)

Rollingnews