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06 Sept 2025

10 party leaders to take part in RTE Upfront General Election debate as date set

The debate moderated by Upfront host Katie Hannon will be the largest RTE has ever held before an election

10 party leaders to take part in RTE Upfront General Election debate as date set

Katie Hannon to host debate. Image: RTE / Naoise Culhane

As part of RTÉ's coverage of the General Election 2024 campaign, the first of two definitive leaders' debates will air this Monday night, featruing ten party leaders.

Upfront with Katie Hannon will host the largest ever leaders’ debate with ten political party leaders taking part in the live debate in RTÉ, aired live on RTE One and the RTE Player.

Journalist Katie Hannon will be asking the important questions as ten leading politicians vying for votes in General Election 2024 set out their stall before Ireland goes to the polls.

Speaking ahead of the live broadcast, presenter Katie Hannon said: “I'm looking forward to moderating the biggest ever television leaders debate on Monday night. This is the only opportunity there will be during this election campaign to see all ten party leaders debate with each other and make their pitch for our votes. We’ll be asking the questions that people want answered on their polices and promises and ensuring that voters know where every party stands on the key issues before they head to the polls on 29th November.”

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The ten political party leaders joining Katie on stage for the major two-hour live debate will be:

Ivana Bacik, Leader of the Labour Party

Richard Boyd Barrett, Leader of People Before Profit

Joan Collins, Leader of Right to Change

Michael Collins, Leader of Independent Ireland

Simon Harris, Leader of Fine Gael

Micheál Martin, Leader of Fianna Fáil

Mary Lou McDonald, Leader of Sinn Féin

Cian O’Callaghan, Deputy Leader of Social Democrats

Roderic O’Gorman, Leader of the Green Party

Peadar Tóibín, Leader of Aontú

Watch RTÉ Upfront with Katie Hannon Party Leaders’ debate at 9.35pm on Monday, November 18. The programme will be available to watch live on RTÉ One, RTÉ News channel and worldwide on the RTÉ Player.

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