On 4 October, TV3 broadcast "Vincent Browne's Big Presidential Debate". Gay Mitchell challenged Martin McGuinness on the "fairytale" that he left the IRA in 1974, asking him directly: "If you (McGuinness) say you left the IRA in 1974 and persist in saying that when you didn’t; if you say you are living on the average industrial wage when you are drawing down a couple of hundred grand – how can people have confidence in your word?" Moderator Vincent Browne later challenged Martin McGuinness' claims that he left the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1974, producing eight books with alleged evidence claiming otherwise. McGuinness referenced this moment when he said in a later debate on the radio that people would blame him for the 1916 Rising if they could find a way to implicate him. Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell suffered from lack of recognition by many voters, and suffered heavily for his controversial views on suicide and on Ireland joining the Commonwealth. Labour candidate Michael D. Higgins was pursued by his past links to the unpopular Fianna Fáil and his admission that he had smoked cannabis.