Coveney says debates should have happened before Parliamentary Party declare allegiance

Simon Coveney says there needs to be a postmortem of how the Fine Gael leadership race has been run.

He believes the candidate debates should happen before members of the Parliamentary Party declare who they’re voting for.

It’s after Leo Varadkar took a commanding lead among the parliamentary party in the first two days of the campaign.

At last night’s debate in Carlow, Simon Coveney said candidates should have to outline their policies first.

Meanwhile, Leo Varadkar has said he would be a Taoiseach that could bring people together.

The Social Protection Minister also used the moment in last night’s debate to have a jab at Simon Coveney’s campaign.