The five presidential candidates saw out a dignified finale to the race in the last televised debate before polling day.
The North was once again raised. Prof Mary McAleese defended her "building bridges" slogan, but stressed that it was crucial to build bridges in the Republic as well as in the North. She also said she would experience difficulties in building a relationship with the unionist community. "I don't think there is anybody here who ever thought it was going to be easy, but coming from the North I knew very well how difficult it was going to be. The fact that it is not easy should not deter us," she said.
Ms Mary Banotti said she believed the intervention of political parties in the North was unhelpful, "whether to those they endorsed or those they did not". When asked whether her own remarks - and later, Mr Bruton's remarks - about Ms McAleese had backfired, Ms Banotti said the interpretation put on her comments had been a mistake. She had been commenting on the selection procedures in Fianna Fail and about "choosing women as clones of Mary Robinson".
Mr Nally said the next President of Ireland would have to be like Wolfe Tone and be "equi-distant" from each of the two communities in Northern Ireland. He was not suggesting for one moment that Ms McAleese could not be such a President. He was very glad someone was being questioned about the "scandalous" leaking of documents. The issue raised by the leaks was very important.
Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon shrugged off suggestions that she had attacked the role of the media and strongly denied she was a onedimensional candidate. Initially, she had been labelled by the media, but overall the coverage of her campaign had been "extremely fair", she said. Ms Scallon said she had "bucked the system" and succeeded in opening up the Presidency to ordinary men and women.
Mr Derek Nally admitted that his public fall-out with his public relations advisers had been damaging to some extent, but said he had made the right decision. "To be quite honest, if I was not going to get one vote, and had taken a different decision, I could not live with myself," he said.
Ms Adi Roche cited the "smear campaign" by members of her Chernobyl Children's Project as a major reason for her slump in the polls from 38 per cent at the beginning of the campaign to 7 per cent. She said she had 20 years of political experience, although not in party politics. She said she was the first presidential candidate to promote solid policies, such as a children's commission. The reaction to these ideas reflected the cynicism of some commentators. Children, it appeared, was a "dirty word".
Ms Banotti said one of the things which had upset her most during the campaign was the suggestion that if you were a politician you were in some way a lesser person.
The candidates were asked about the constitutional role of the President and the President's power to address the Oireachtas. Ms Banotti said the most important power a President should have is that of judgment.
Ms Scallon said she would consider appointing the other four candidates to her Council of State. Ms Roche said she had "every belief and confidence" she would be able to make the right decisions.
Ms McAleese said the constitutional role of the President required a "very finely tuned judgment". There ultimately came a day when a President had to make a "very lonely call".
In relation to the signing of Bills, Mr Nally said there might be times when it would be better to sign a Bill even if you had doubts about it "and let somebody challenge it in the Supreme Court".
Ms Roche said it was important that the role of the President was not made into one which could only be filled by a constitutional lawyer. She said she would like to address the Oireachtas on environmental issues, on a vision for humanity for the next millennium, and on her proposals for a commission on children.
Both Ms McAleese and Ms Banotti said the right to address the Oireachtas was meant to be used very rarely. Ms McAleese said it was designed for very special occasions.
Each candidate gave an opening one-minute statement. Mr Derek Nally said he would like to bring his life's experience to the Presidency. He had spent 30 years in the gardai and 20 years doing youth work and work with the victims of crime. In the last four to five years he had worked on security for the elderly.
Working with these people he had seen decency and honesty which is "sadly lacking in our public life".
Ms McAleese said that for most people, six weeks ago she was just a name. Since then, she had crisscrossed the country meeting people and getting extensive coverage in the media. She was a wife and mother, had had a good career, had grown up in a large family and had played a small role in the peace process. She hoped people could see in her the embodiment of an Irish nation, a nation in its stride.
Ms Scallon said she would not have missed the opportunity of the last 12 weeks for anything. She said she "wanted to make a clearing in the woods". She wanted to be a voice for people, for those who could not be heard. A vote for her would not be a vote smeared by political in-fighting.
Ms Roche said her Presidency would be an environmentally conscious and progressive one. She said she had worked internationally, had addressed the United Nations, had spoken as a European "Person of the Year" and was a member of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.
She had written a book on Chernobyl, was the director of the Chernobyl Project, which had delivered eight times the amount of aid to Chernobyl as had the UN. Ms Banotti said it was time to reflect on the type of Presidency each candidate would bring. Her's would be a liberal, tolerant Presidency, forward-looking and representing the kind of Ireland we had today. The kind of "bridge building" she had been involved in was political, economical and cultural.
She had worked in Europe with MEPs from north and south of the border on common causes for the entire island of Ireland, and had campaigned on her record as a public representative and a private citizen.