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# Ring the bell
LIVE: Seconds out, round one in the Labour leadership contest
The debate tonight is the first of five events.
WITH JUST 25 days to go until the election of the new Labour leader, the campaign begins in earnest tonight with the first of five debates.
Tonight’s hustings will take place in the Radisson Blu hotel at Dublin Airport, with Alex White and Joan Burton set to go head to head.
The meeting will see the two candidates to fill Eamon Gilmore’s position as the party leader engage in a questions and answers session with ordinary Labour members.
There will also be a debate among the four candidates for the Deputy Leadership – Ciara Conway, Sean Sherlock, Alan Kelly and Michael McCarthy.
The meeting will be chaired by the party chairperson Loraine Mulligan.
After tonight, the party will bring the roadshow to Galway, Cork, Portlaoise and Dublin South.
The party’s members will vote on the leadership positions from today, with ballots due to be returned by 4 July.
- Follow @oconnellhugh for live updates from the first debate tonight.
- Watch a livestream of the debate above
Read: Here’s how Labour will select their new leaders
