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Handbags, wristbands and men with ear pieces
by Louise Harrison
news@timerickpost.ie
THE atmosphere was electric in the
University of Limerick on MonclaY
night as an air of expectation built for
the first ever leaclers pre-election
debate to be held outside of Dublin.
Having arrived excessivelY earlY,
and gone through a number of
.:curity checks, I chatted with a lady
-:rm Listowel, as we queued to have
:r handbags searched.
Once registered, we were adorned
',,'thplasticn'ristbanils anddispatched
-. the lobby upstairs. The colours of
':: udstbands set us aPart with the
debate audience, chosen bY an
independent Poliing company'
allocated pink and UL guests given
vellow wristbands.People hovered
unsure of what to do, until theY were
invited them to help themselves to a
generous spread of sandwiches antl
snacks. There were wide variations in
the audience Profile but these
dissipated as theY came to the
realisation they were all in the same
predicament. I found the ladY from
th. qo.ne, and we laughed over the
fact that we had forgotten to empty
our untidy handbags before we came,
and our embarrassment as securitY
staff inspected doggie Poo bags
(unused) among other unmentionabie
items. With uniformed and besuited
olficials. complele with ear pieces.
striding purposefully in and out of the
auditorium, it feit like a film set'
something from the West Wing, where
undercover detectives stood on
balconies on different floors, leaning
over railings watching the crowd.
The 'Magnificent Seven' entered bY
a separate door and went upstairs to a
reception area, protected by raiiings
and securitY.
Finally the time came to be seated
and "the sensible PeoPie in the
audience," as Claire Byrne described
them,occupied their allocated seating.
The UL guests, those in the Yellow
r,r,'ristbands, were seated in the room
next door to the debate, where theY
watched the live stream in a more
relaxed atmosphere and their reaction
to quips such as GerrY Adams' "the
Thrle Amigos" and StephenDonnelly's
"rolling out the red carpet for Donald
Trump", could not be Picked uP bY
microphones.
RTE told us that more than a million
viewers watched the debate. I don't
know il it wiil have swayed voters one
way or another, but itwasentertaining,
chaired extremely well by Claire Byrne
and professionally hosted and staged
by UL.