sympathy with the devil

The leaders of two of Ireland's main political parties Michael Martin of  Fianna Fail and current Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael, are debating on television this evening.
No one is watching the event because of a criminally manipulative decision by a bankrupt network ridiculously styling itself Virgin One, to exclude Mary Lou McDonald the leader of Sinn Fein from the proceedings.
The State broadcaster RTE is proposing a similar shenanigans exclusion of Mary Lou McDonald from another debate among Prime Ministerial candidates in a few days time.
Here is the news.
Sinn Fein is consistently polling at a little over 20 percent among people who express a preference.
The other two parties are polling similarly at a little over 20 percent.
The pollsters claim their figures can err up to five percent either way, so if we accept the pollsters' purely notional limitation on their own margin of error, Sinn Fein may even be ahead of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in terms of real electoral support.
My own animosity to Sinn Fein notwithstanding, (cf my modest internet efforts to remind the peasantry that Sinn Fein is the proxy political party for Ireland's drug dealing, child abusing, people trafficking, bank robbing, fingernail pulling, IRA mafia) Mary Lou McDonald, by virtue of the fact that one fifth of the electorate who express a preference say they intend to vote for her, is entitled to a place in any public leaders debate prior to the general election in February.
That is all.