As part of RTÉ’s extensive coverage in the run up to the European Parliament Elections on Friday 7th June, Upfront with Katie Hannon will hold the first major TV debate this Monday night on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

The live programme will focus on the Midlands North-West constituency with presenter Katie Hannon at the helm beginning at 10.35pm.

With over twenty candidates in each constituency and more than seventy across the three European constituencies, when inviting candidates to participate RTÉ set impartial and objective criteria across all three debates to ensure they are as informative and coherent as possible to best serve the audience.  The criteria will see a maximum of eight candidates in each of the above television debates.

This Monday night’s RTÉ One programme will see the following candidates join Katie Hannon live in studio:

• Peter Casey – Independent
• Barry Cowen – Fianna Fail
• Luke Ming Flanagan – Independent
• Saoirse McHugh – Independent
• Chris MacManus – Sinn Fein
• Pauline O’Reilly – Green Party
• Peadar Toíbín – Aontú
• Maria Walsh – Fine Gael

In order to allow as much time as possible for candidates to make their points, there will be no live audience and no opening or closing statements.

Ahead of the first major TV debate, presenter Katie Hannon said: “These European Elections are coming at a volatile time in national and international politics. The EU plays a key role in the defining issues of these turbulent times, from migration and the rise of the far right, to the response to Ukraine and Gaza, to climate change and the future of agriculture. I’m looking forward to a lively debate.”

This Monday night is the first of three major live television debates RTÉ will host on the European Elections across three consecutive weeks in the lead up to polling day. On Thursday 30th May, a Prime Time Election Debate special will focus on the Ireland South constituency. The final of RTÉ’s major TV debate of the campaign will see candidates in the Dublin constituency feature on a  Prime Time Election Debate on Tuesday 4th June.

In addition, RTÉ will broadcast a live TV special from Limerick for the first ever Mayoral Election. Upfront with Katie Hannon will be broadcast live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, on Monday 27 May.

Note: 

With over 20 candidates in each constituency and more than 70 across the three European constituencies, RTÉ has set criteria for inviting candidates to the three RTÉ One TV debates to ensure they are as informative and coherent as possible to best serve the audience.  The criteria are set out openly and in full detail here: https://about.rte.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/RTE-European-Local-Elections-2024.pdf