The leaders of the three largest Irish political parties clashed in the final TV debate of the election campaign last night.

The debate was presented by Miriam O’Callaghan and Sarah McInerney on RTÉ’s Prime Time.

Housing, health and crime provided flashpoints between Simon Harris, Micheál Martin and Mary Lou McDonald.

Dublin riots

A year on from the Dublin riots, crime was the hottest of these flashpoints last night – with Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin indirectly criticising Fine Gael's handling of the Justice brief.

“But it's taken 12 months for the first conviction after those Dublin riots, which were very serious riots where the state lost control of the streets,” Micheál Martin said.

The Dublin riots topic provided a rare moment of unity between Martin and Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald.

“The state lost control of the streets of our capital city on that occasion - that's unacceptable, and that by any measurement, is a measure of failure,” Mary Lou McDonald said.

"Garda killer"

Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, however, was prepared the hit back strongly.

“My party has never had a TD who's collected a Garda killer from the gates of prison, first point,” he said.

“Second point is this - your position was to immediately blame the head of the guards rather than the rioters, and you carried out a press conference at a crime scene.

“That was your approach; how do I use this to my political advantage?”

No clear blow

There was no clear killer blow from any of the leaders in what was one of the last chances they will have to pitch to those who have yet to make up their minds on how they will vote on Friday.

While no leader did anything dramatic to win this campaign, all three would be satisfied they also didn't do anything massive to lose it.

Micheal Martin, Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris at Prime Time Leaders Debate. 26/11/2024 Photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie