With just days left until the general election, party leaders are out canvassing today and launching various policies in a bid to convince undecided voters and consolidate existing support.
The big talking point of the weekend came on Friday with the interaction between Simon Harris and a disability worker in Kanturk, Co Cork.
Charlotte Fallon, who works with St Joseph’s Foundation, told The Irish Times she was shaken and upset after the conversation with the Taoiseach, who apologised on social media and in a phone call.
Today, Mr Harris was reacting to the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll which showed that support for him and Fine Gael has dropped significantly.
Elsewhere today, Mary Lou McDonald said that Sinn Féin is “absolutley confident” its affordable homes scheme will meet requirements laid down by mortgage lenders to advance funds under the plan.
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Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports: Launching a children’s charter in Dublin on Sunday, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik pointed to overdue assessments of need, homelessness figures among children and child poverty rates. She said the government’s record was “shameful”, especially given the scale of exchequer surpluses being recorded. The party is demanding a new, second tier of child benefit in the next Dáil and an autism guarantee.
Bacik said she has not spoken with other centre left party leaders about a putative post-election alliance, with her focus on the election – but reiterated that the first thing her party would do after the vote is to talk to like-minded parties.
Marie Sherlock, Labour’s candidate in Dublin Central, said that the Government had failed section 39 workers in the disability sector, in the wake of Simon Harris’ campaign-trail encounter with Charlotte Fallon. Sherlock said “it’s fine to apologise after the fact”, but that there had been “years of neglect” with workers in the sector “ignored”.
The Taoiseach also told Sky News that he is taking steps to shield the country’s economy from “any economic shock” from the incoming Donald Trump administration in the US.
“I think president [Donald] Trump does mean what he says in terms of his position in relation to trade and tariffs,” Simon Harris said. “That’s why I’m preparing my country and working with European Union counterparts to prepare the EU for that change.”
Mr Harris said he was setting aside funds to protect against a potential onslaught from US trade policy.
The Government in October made its first payment to its new sovereign wealth fund, the Future Ireland Fund, which it aims to grow to more than €100 billion.
“Ireland can approach this with confidence,” he said. “We can never be complacent, and that’s why my party is setting aside a very significant amount into funds, future funds, to protect our country from any economic shock.” – Bloomberg
Taoiseach Simon Harris has said it is “entirely possible” that there will be a united Ireland in his lifetime.
Mr Harris made the comments in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, during which he was asked about migration, US president-elect Donald Trump and the risk of another economic crash.
Mr Harris has said previously that Irish unity is not a priority for his premiership and has called the peace on the island of Ireland “frosty”.
Asked whether he thought he would see a united Ireland in his lifetime, he told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “It’s entirely possible to see it in my lifetime, but I’m not yet ready to put deadlines on these things because I think when you do, I think you drive people further away rather than closer together.”
Mr Harris also spoke on the subject of immigration, advocating for a “fair but firmer” system. – PA
Former taoiseach Enda Kenny has made an appearance on the campaign trail this morning.
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports: Speaking to reporters in Knock, Co Mayo, on Sunday, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said opinion polls reset during a general election campaign.
He said it was clear to him since the first day of the campaign that it would be a “very tightly contested, close general election”.
He was speaking after a Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll showed support for his party down three points to 22 per cent, while Fianna Fáil showed no change, level on 20 per cent with Sinn Féin, which was up two points.
Mr Harris emphasised the need to put together a stable government after the election. “We need to be able to put together a strong, stable government,” he said, adding that there was increasing uncertainty in the world.
He said he believed voters were beginning to “tease through the issues” in the days leading into the polling date.
Asked about his exchange with disability worker Charlotte Fallon, he said: “I’m human, I make mistakes, but when I make a mistake, I own it.”
“I got it completely wrong, I was wrong, simple as,” he said. He suggested that the issue would not overshadow the campaign unduly, and that people would vote on the manifesto commitments, including the parties’ disability policy.
“No matter how many times I say that, that reality won’t change. I made the decision to put my hands up and apologise, that’s what I do, I’m a human, I make mistakes, and that was one,” Mr Harris said.
He said his concern was about the future of the country and making things better for those with disabilities. He said disability policy would be a “personal priority” for him if re-elected Taoiseach.
Asked about what he would do if the economy took a hit, he said money must be spent to protect people from the cost-of-living-crisis and also to invest for the future. Putting money aside to buffer the economy was a key commitment, he said. He conceded that it was not possible to say what manifesto promises would be delivered in which year as it will depend on where the country’s economy is.
“In hard times, and if this country finds itself in hard times again, our priority will always be protecting those most economically vulnerable,” he said.
Mr Harris said it was “quite incredible” that there had been no TV debate scheduled on the economy, which he said was “very disappointing”.
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports: Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, which is focusing on cost-of-living pressures, Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Finance Jack Chambers said there would be “sustained action” by his party if returned to government – with an emphasis on permanent reductions in energy bills, achieved through a retention of the current reduction in VAT on energy bills and the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy.
He would not be drawn specifically on whether the party would give further energy credits in future budgets, but said it would “not be found wanting”.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said neither he nor Fianna Fáil would give credits next year, promising to “deal with the core issues”, which he said included “price gouging”. He promised further powers for the regulator.
O’Gorman: Taoiseach’s interaction with disability worker a ‘defining’ campaign moment
Jack White reports: The viral clip involving a visibly upset disability worker and outgoing Taoiseach Simon Harris will be a “defining moment” in the general election campaign, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said.
In the video, Charlotte Fallon accused the Government of ignoring the disability sector, which Mr Harris denied before walking away from her, with Mr O’Gorman saying the interaction has taken up a “huge amount of the focus in the media and online over the last three days” and will prove to be a “defining moment” in the campaign.
He said the Taoiseach “wasn’t listening” to Ms Fallon, something which Mr Harris has “acknowledged himself”, adding that it is important for politicians to listen to members of the public, “particularly if that’s a critique of the work we’ve done”.
“It’s not always easy but we have to listen to that,” he said.
Mr O’Gorman was speaking alongside Dublin South-Central Green Party candidate Patrick Costello at the Luas Red Line terminus at the 3Arena outlining the Green Party’s red line for going into government, namely the party’s commitment to a €10 billion investment in public transport.
Separately, he described video footage of an incident involving Fine Gael candidate for Louth, John McGahon, as “pretty disturbing”.
Mr O’Gorman was reacting to further CCTV footage released by the Sunday Times on Sunday, showing the lead-up to Mr McGahon striking Breen White several times during a late-night incident in 2018.
While saying he would not run Mr McGahon as a candidate had he been a member of the Green Party, he said, ultimately, “it will be the people of Louth who make a determination on John McGahon’s candidacy”.
“If I’d seen that footage, I don’t think I’d have been comfortable for him standing as a Green Party candidate but I think, ultimately, at this stage, it’s going to be a decision for the people of Louth,” he said.
Mr McGahon faced charges of assault causing harm arising out of the incident but was acquitted by a jury when the case came to trial in 2022.
However, in a civil action taken by Mr White, a jury concluded in May 2024 that the Louth Senator was 65 per cent responsible for the assault. He was ordered to pay €39,000 in damages to the victim.
Asked on RTÉ's Week in Politics about Simon Harris’ encounter with Charlotte Fallon, Pascal Donohoe said he had never met anyone as committed to disability issues as the Fine Gael leader.
“It was at the end of a long day, I know he keenly wishes that the discussion had gone otherwise,” he said.
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports: On RTÉ's Week in Politics, the Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan has rounded on both her former coalition partners as well as Sinn Féin when it comes to climate policy.
Ms Hourigan said that the two larger coalition parties wanted to turn the ship back towards the climate change iceberg after it changing course in recent years – and that if that was the case, Sinn Féin wanted to “torpedo the boat”. She said that the party had taken up fossil fuel industry talking points during its campaign, which was rejected by Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin on the same programme.
He said carbon taxes were punishing working people without sufficient expansion of public transport.
On the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien rejected suggestions that farmers were being deceived on the likelihood of an extenstion to Ireland’s derogation on the nitrates directive, EU measures to improve water quality. He said: “We have to work with all sectors, including agriculture”.
Fine Gael TD Paschal Donohoe said his party would set up a cabinet committee on water quality which would work with farmers to improve outcomes in the area.
Mr Ó Broin said that a just transition would see work between farmers and the use of new technologies. He said that he believed the derogation could be extended.
Ms Hourigan said the reason the derogation may be lost was because it had been in place for two decades without sufficient progress on water quality. She agreed that farmers were being “spoofed” by larger parties. “The EU does not make laws so it can watch people break them.”
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports: Sinn Féin is “absolutely confident” its affordable homes scheme will meet requirements laid down by mortgage lenders to advance funds under the plan.
It comes after a report in the Business Post on Sunday suggested several senior banking figures, speaking privately, believed the party had overpromised on the scheme, which envisages building affordable homes for €250,000-€300,000 on land that would be owned by the State.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald rejected this, and said her team had met with the banks on several occasions to discuss the scheme.
“We are absolutely confident that we will meet those requirements,” she said. “At the end of the day, the banks will engage with the new government.”
“Nothing has been overstated,” she said.
Ms McDonald also targeted Fine Gael leader Simon Harris over his ill-fated interaction with a disability worker in Cork last week, and claimed her party was gaining momentum as this Friday’s polling date drew closer.
“We have six days to go, we are locked onto this campaign, we are in it to win it,” she said, arguing the party was feeling a momentum that she said would continue to grow. With Sinn Féin up two points in a Sunday Independent opinion poll to 20 per cent.
She said that her view was the campaign dynamic was similar to the last general election where an appetite for change “grew and grew”.
“I actually think the mood is ahead of those polling numbers,” she said. “We’re picking it up everywhere that people are ready for this historic change,” she added. Ms McDonald said statements from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that they would not speak with Sinn Féin regarding government formation after the election were disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of people who will vote for her party.
Asked about a viral video clip of Fine Gael leader Simon Harris interacting with Charlotte Fallon, a disability sector worker, in Cork last week, Ms McDonald said after 14 years in government Fine Gael had forgotten about the impact decisions have on the ground.
Ms Fallon, she said “spoke truth to power in a very true way”
In this case, power didn’t want to hear the truth, and that’s hugely, hugely problematic.”
Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones is at a meeting of Sinn Féin frontbenchers – including Michelle O’Neill – for us this morning. More as we get it.
Support for Fine Gael and Simon Harris falls in new opinion poll
We’re heading into the final week of the general election campaign, and according to the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll, support for Fine Gael and Taoiseach Simon Harris has fallen significantly.
The opinion poll – conducted on Thursday and Friday, before Mr Harris’ viral encounter with disability worker Charlotte Fallon in Kanturk, Co Cork – shows support for the Taoiseach’s party is down four points to 22 per cent.
Meanwhile, support for Sinn Féin has risen two points to 20 per cent, tied with Fianna Fáil, who’s support is steady since the last poll.
Respondents’ approval of Mr Harris’ campaign performance is level with Fianna Fáil leader and Tánaiste Micheál Martin at 47 per cent.
According to the poll, a majority of people believe Aontú's Peadar Tóibín performed the best during the 10-way leader’s debate on Upfront with Katie Hannon on Monday.
The sample size for the poll was 1,420 people, with the margin of error at +/- 2.6 per cent.
In the last Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll, conducted on November 12th and 13th, support for Fine Gael was at 25 per cent, a 2 per cent drop. Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin were trailing on 19 per cent apiece.
A drop in support for Mr Harris was also reflected in that poll – he fell five points to 50 per cent, with Mr Martin on 45 per cent and Ms McDonald on 30 per cent.
