The positions were picked at random, with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin being drawn for the first position, likely appearing on the left-hand side of the viewers' screens. Photos: PA

Leaders' election debate: Order of line-up revealed

by · BreakingNews.ie

Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin, and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald are set to participate in the final general election leaders’ debate on Tuesday night.

Ahead of the debate tonight, RTÉ has revealed the order in which the leaders will be positioned for programme, which will be presented by Miriam O’Callaghan and Sarah McInerney on RTÉ’s Prime Time.

The positions were picked at random, with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin being drawn for the first position, likely appearing on the left-hand side of the viewers' screens.

Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Féin, will be in the second position during the live broadcast.

And lastly, current Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris will be in the third position, likely appearing on the right-hand side of screens.

Last week's leaders debate saw Katie Hannon host 10 political party leaders who answered questions on the issues that matter to voters.

For viewers, Martin and Harris were stood beside each other to the left of the host, while McDonald was stood in the furthest right position.

Last week's leaders debate with Katie Hannon. Photo: PA

Over 950,000 people tuned in for a minute or more of the broadcast on the night.

The full two-hour programme had an average audience of 460,000 viewers on RTÉ One and RTÉ One+1, which was a 43 per cent share of the TV audience.

The debate aimed to give a platform to party leaders from across the political spectrum to air their views as voters make up their minds before they head to the polls on Friday.

RTÉ’s Managing Director of News and Current Affairs Deirdre McCarthy said: "The strong number of viewers who watched the Upfront with Katie Hannon Party Leader's debate shows the level of interest in election 2024 among our RTÉ audience.

"It gave them an opportunity to hear directly from the ten party leaders together for the first time as they were questioned on and debated the policies they are presenting to the electorate.

"This debate is an important part of RTÉ's coverage across all our output on all platforms and programmes as we head towards polling day on November 29th."

Tuesday night's debate will kick off at 9:35pm.