Sinn Féin dominated the first hustings of the Labour party in Dublin last night.

Alex White told members that he felt there would not be a problem with missing the deficit target next year, while Joan Burton insisted there was a need for a bank debt deal.

Most of the candidates brought up the issue of Sinn Féin, while quite a few of the members posing questions mentioned the party too.

Joan Burton felt there was no place for a Labour-Sinn féin coalition, but Alex White would not rule them out as a coalition partner, adding they had similar policies: 

Three of the four deputy leader candidates ruled out any coalition with Sinn Féin, final candidate Ciara Conway running out of time before she had a chance to answer the question.

The other big issue was the economy and the budget.

Alex White says he won't stand for any disability cuts, wants the correction to be less than €2 billion, and says "We have an agreed target of reducing the deficit below 3% in 2015, but if we were to miss that deadline marginally, or by a few months - so be it."

While Joan Burton says there will be two more budgets in the coalition, and promised to lead the fight against austerity, "I fought to protect that welfare safety net and I will continue to fight to protect it against the never-ending assault from right wing critics."

Alex White said he certainly would appoint Joan Burton to Cabinet if elected leader, answering the same question she would only say she would appoint the best people.

Speaking afterwards, Labour party members tried to give their verdict on who had won the debate.