No decision on when to hold by-elections, says Simon Harris
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Taoiseach Simon Harris says that there have been no decisions made about when to hold Dáil by-elections, as a total of four TDs are bound for the European Parliament.
Following the European Parliament elections last week, Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion, Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, and Independent Michael McNamara are heading to Brussels in the weeks ahead.
However, Mr Harris said that the Government is yet to discuss the matter of by-elections in the four constituencies.
“We’ll decide when to have the by-elections in due course. I haven't had an opportunity to assess that yet and to talk to the other party leaders in our coalition about that,” Mr Harris said.
“I certainly don't fear by-elections.”
Mr Harris repeated that the three coalition leaders have agreed for the government to go full term, meaning that any election would be held in 2025 rather than before the end of the year.
The Taoiseach also said the question of the Government losing their majority “doesn’t really arise”, as he was elected as Taoiseach with a Dáil majority of 19 less than 70 days ago.
Arriving at the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar, Mr Harris met with Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh, who are both due to be elected as MEPs in the coming hours.
Mr Harris said that the party has had “incredible results” in Midlands North West, but said that descriptions of Ms Carberry and Ms Walsh as celebrity candidates were “clearly nonsense”.
“We just won the election didn’t we? Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh just won the election,” Mr Harris said.
“Nina Carberry is not a celebrity, she’s a champion. She’s a champion so a little less pejorative language would be useful when you actually have people who are award winning, people who run businesses, people who write books, joining an experienced MEP.”
Ms Carberry and Ms Walsh were asked if they would support European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to be reappointed, with both saying they would vote for her.
It comes after Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan urged other Irish MEPs to vote against Ms von der Leyen’s reappointment, saying that they would have “forgotten our history” if they did due to her early stance on the war in Gaza.
Ms Walsh said that she previously publicly disagreed with Ms von der Leyen’s approach. Ms Carberry said that she would be voting for her, but that she disagreed with her approach following October 7.
“I think her track record on covid and Brexit has been brilliant leadership and I will be voting for her,” Ms Carberry said.
Mr Harris said that the European Council would first decide who to nominate for the European Commission president role, which is set to be done later this month.
Asked if Fine Gael would not cooperate with far-right groupings in the European Parliament, Mr Harris said that it was his preference to build a coalition to prevent extreme groups from being provided with influence.
Mr Harris also was asked about the party’s electoral strategy in Ireland South. Deirdre Clune opted not to run this time and John Mullins failed to secure a seat in the election.
The Taoiseach said that the party did not make a mistake by running a candidate from Cork and another in Kerry, saying that the party would conduct a review of the campaign.
“As to whether you should have a candidate in the east as well, no doubt our party will have that debate again. Often though there’s been a view that you have a candidate in Cork,” he said.
Mr Harris said that he did not know if Mr Mullins would run in Cork East in a general election, but that he hoped the MEP candidate would “play a future role in political life”.