Taoiseach insists Fine Gael resignations won't hurt election chances
Niall Taoiseach Picture: File Wire Carson/pa Harris Simon
The Taoiseach has played down the impact of the resignation of a number of Fine Gael TDs on the party's upcoming election chances.
Simon Harris does not believe that having sitting TDs run again is the "be-all and end-all."
Some 18 of the party's sitting TDs are not running again, including Heather Humphreys, Simon Coveney, and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
“When I travel around the country, people are looking for new energy, new ideas to serve in Dáil Éireann,” Mr Harris said, adding that he would make the case for Fine Gael having “experience and energy."
He said that serving in the Dáil was a form of experience, but so are Fine Gael candidates lived experiences, whether that is through running a business or working at council level.
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“My party has people with all of those backgrounds putting themselves on a ballot. So while some of the names might be new to you and to those of us who operate maybe in Leinster House, but they’re not new in their communities.
“What I see from them is a huge level of energy and enthusiasm, similar to what I remember my own campaign to run for the Dáil in 2011.”
Mr Harris is due to return to Dublin from the Budapest summit this afternoon, where he will make a brief statement at Government Buildings before being whisked off to Áras an Uachtaráin.
President Michael D Higgins will then be asked to dissolve the Dáil, before Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien moves the writ to call polling day as Friday, November 29.
Mr Harris has also called for the campaign to not descend into tit-for-tat attacks between political parties.
“You don’t need the general election campaign to be like Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil. You say one thing, I say another,” he said.
He highlighted a number of issues likely to be at the forefront, including a debate on housing and particularly the number of new homes that need to be built in the years ahead.
Immigration and childcare were also singled out by Mr Harris, but he also cautioned about only having debates about how future governments will spend government surpluses.
“Being here on the eve of a general election has driven home to me how our discussion and political debates in the weeks ahead really do need to broaden.
“Up until now, 90% of the political debate in Ireland has been about how you’re going to spend the money available to the Government of the day.
“Let’s remember, much of that money is not yet in the coffers. It’s dependent on being able to spend that money is being able to generate it.”