The leaders of the three smaller Dáil parties emerged strongest from the second television debate of the 2016 general election campaign, held in the University of Limerick on Monday night.

None of the major party leaders did enough to generate any obvious momentum from the debate, although they will all have reassured their own party supporters.

Overall, it was a much more informative and less acrimonious affair than the much-criticised TV3 debate last week which featured the leaders of the four big parties.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin effectively cancelled each other out but they did not interrupt and heckle each other in the way they did last week.

The big winners were the three smaller party leaders. Stephen Donnelly of the Social Democrats came across as assured, particularly in his criticism of the main parties for engaging in “auction politics”, although he flagged later in the debate when he was put under pressure when questioned on crime and housing.

More applause

The leader of the AAA-PBP Richard Boyd Barrett won more applause from the audience than any of the other party leaders for advocating greater State involvement in a range of activities from house building to the health service.

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton also drew applause on occasion as she focused on articulating her party’s policies on the various issues which emerged from questions raised by the studio audience. The leaders of the Coalition parties and Fianna Fáil had a more difficult time as they all had to defend their records in government.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams also came under pressure after he dubbed the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour as the “three amigos” who could not be trusted by the voters.

Mr Martin pounced to ask how the Sinn Féin leader could be taken seriously on anything having denied for years he was a member of the IRA.

Go to the gardaí

“There isn’t a guard in the country who doesn’t believe that you weren’t in the IRA,” said Mr Martin after Mr Adams suggested Fianna Fáil leader should go to the gardaí with any information he had.

On the economy, Mr Kenny said the country was in a much safer position now than it was when the Coalition took office but he insisted the recovery could not be taken for granted.

Mr Martin said voters were right to question all the political parties and he was particularly critical of the Fine Gael promises which he said represented auction politics at its worst.

Ms Burton said Mr Martin had left office as the country went down in ruins and he was now like “the emperor with no clothes” pretending Fianna Fáil’s past never happened.

At the end of the debate, Ms Burton who had been overshadowed in the earlier stages came back strongly and put Mr Adams under pressure for his claims about housing.

Towards the end of the debate Mr Kenny and Mr Martin ruled out the prospect of a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition. Mr Kenny insisted that Fianna Fáil was not worthy of Government and the electorate had not forgiven the party for ruining the country.

Asked if would do business with Mr Martin, Mr Kenny said: “Certainly not.”