Election 2024: Six things we learned on the campaign trail today
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The Taoiseach has doubled down on his support of embattled election candidate John McGahon, with Tánaiste Micheál Martin saying that the senator wouldn't have been a candidate for Fianna Fáil.
Mr McGahon was acquitted in 2022 of assaulting Breen White outside a Dundalk nightclub in 2018, but the Fine Gael senator was found to be 65% civilly liable by a High Court jury.
Over the weekend, photos of Mr White’s injuries were published, leading to calls for Mr Harris to answer questions on Mr McGahon’s candidacy.
While Simon Harris has supported his Louth candidate, his government and opposition counterparts have increased the pressure on the senator to address the controversy.
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The Social Democrats are proposing a new weekly €30 cost of disability payment, as the party pledges to introduce key reforms to existing disability laws.
Sinéad Gibney, a candidate for the party in Dún Laoghaire, launched the policy, which includes the party’s key red line for a senior minister in charge of disability.
The party is also promising to introduce a new statutory right to home care and personal assistance, as well as immediately signing the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Green Party is proposing an additional bank holiday be added to the calendar bringing Ireland up to 12 in line with the EU average.
The party championed the introduction of the February bank holiday, Roderic O'Gorman said, and if returned to government would push for one on the first weekend in July.
Mr O'Gorman was speaking as the party launched its plans to enhance the work/life balance including examining the prospect of a four-day work week.
Bringing in a four-day work week would not require a referendum and would be a matter for the government of the day to consider the findings of the Citizen's Assembly.
People Before Profit joined the call to return a ban on no-fault evictions as part of its plans to address the 'Locked Out Generation' saying the measure was "shamefully" dropped by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael following the pandemic.
As well as a three-year rent freeze, the party proposes a cap on rents meaning no person would pay more than 25% of their monthly income on rent.
General election candidate Conor Reddy said there is little recourse for renters when they raise concerns about the standard of their home and so People Before Profit would introduce an "NCT-style system" for property standards.
Canvassing in Cork city centre on Monday, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohue said that as a TD for Dublin Central he wasn't aware that veteran criminal figure Gerry The Monk Hutch, has been "an unofficial politician" for years.
"Well it is news to me if he has been," Mr Donohue said.
"What I instead have seen is a constituency that is full of strong and decent communities of people who work so hard to get a better life for themselves, for their families.
"I have also seen the awful harm that has been caused by drugs, that has been caused by organised crime, sometimes to the most vulnerable within our communities."
Mr Hutch is officially on the ballot in Dublin Central, having lodged his papers last week.
Fianna Fáil TDs have made little secret of their belief that Helen McEntee hasn't done a good job as Justice Minister. Over the weekend, Willie O'Dea said that she had been the "worst Justice Minister in the history of the state", following criticism by Jim O'Callaghan.
Some in Fine Gael took this criticism to be loaded with sexist intent, but on Monday Micheál Martin hit back at the assertion, saying that comments by junior justice minister James Browne about his own legislative workload were not a dig at Ms McEntee's maternity leave periods.
Mr O'Callaghan, too, said that his criticism is purely weighted in policy.
“All I was doing was I was pointing out that many of the successful measures that Minister McEntee implemented were on foot of proposals from myself and Fianna Fáil.
“I would make the same point had Charlie Flanagan been the minister for justice, so I don’t think I should be precluded from making those points simply because the Minister is a female.”