Simon Coveney's emerged as the slight winner in the first of the four Fine Gael leadership debates.
He and Leo Varadkar locked horns last night - each of them arguing that the other would compromise the party's values.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports:
It comes as a new poll shows Simon Coveney is the favourite among ordinary Fine Gael members to take over the party, while Leo has more support from Fine Gael Ministers.
The poll from the MRBI Irish Times was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week - before last night's first regional debate in Dublin
