Leaders’ debate – as seen through the eyes of children

Many were quick to label the behaviour of political party leaders on Monday night’s debate as childish. So, we wondered, how do children feel about being compared to the cast of characters seeking to run the country?

We assembled a formidable panel of five children from Holy Cross National School in Dundrum, aged nine to 11 years, to review the debate footage. Our focus group, chaired by Róisín Ingle of The Irish Times, viewed short clips of each of the main party leaders speaking, squawking, name-calling and interrupting each other.

It's fair to say that, for the most part, the children were not impressed. The first clip they saw was Fine Gael's Enda Kenny, as he attacked Micheál Martin over Fianna Fáil's record in office.

“If he was in school, he’d get a white card because he keeps interrupting so much,” said Zheng-jun Wang (9). “He also uses a lot of fancy words. If they did a talking competition using fancy words, Enda Kenny would win it.”

“Maybe because he’s leader of the country he thinks he’s better than other people,” added Molly Garvey (9).

Labour leader Joan Burton didn't fare much better. "It was a bit mean to say Micheál Martin was laughable – that wasn't very nice," said Lizzie Cunningham (9).

“I think Joan Burton’s hair must be blocking her ears, because she doesn’t seem to be hearing what Micheál Martin is saying,” said Zheng-jun.

Our jury wasn’t impressed by Micheál Martin either. Children, it seems, have long memories. “He didn’t mention what happened in government the last time,” said Molly. “I think he’s hoping people will forget and just vote for him.”

“I don’t think I’d trust him with my vote,” added Charlie Lonergan (11).

Sinn Féin leader’s Gerry Adams’s words – and beard – came in for forensic scrutiny. “He’s always shouting out his answers . . . I think he needs to calm down a bit ,” says Charlie.

“You wonder what’s in his beard,” said Molly. “When you read The Twits, you can’t get that out of your head . . . maybe old cornflakes and stuff.”

The leaders of the smaller parties went down much better. Stephen Donnelly of the Social Democrats, in particular, seemed to connect well with his emphasis on fairness for all – although he seemed to remind them of someone.

“I’ve got it. He looks like Ian from Alvin and the Chipmunks!”, exclaimed Molly. The rest of the panel nodded their heads in agreement.

Renua Ireland's Lucinda Creighton, too, was more palatable than most of the others. "She seems pretty nice. All the others are a bit shouty. She was straightforward. I think she'd make a good leader," said Lizzie.

Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit representative Richard Boyd-Barrett also went down well. “I like that he’s dressed casually,” said Becky Gray (10). Lizzie agreed. “I think casual is better than fancy suits. It’s like, ‘I want to help people, but I don’t have to have fancy dress to help people’.”

Zheng-jun, though, felt he looked a bit like a soldier rather than a politician. “I can picture him in the army, with a helmet on his head. If you look at his hand, it kind of looks like he’s holding a grenade.”

Their overall assessment? Our leaders need to calm down, stop shouting, use simple language. Oh, and spin doctors take note: they need to stop behaving like children. “It’s funny,” said Becky. “Everyone says adults are more mature than children. In this debate, the children are more mature than the adults.”