LAST UPDATE | 15 mins ago

ACTIVISTS AND POLITICAL parties have criticised Simon Harris after he walked away from a woman mid-conversation who claimed that he had “done nothing” for carers while in government.

The Taoiseach was canvassing in Kanturk in north west Cork yesterday when he was stopped by a woman who identified herself as a carer.

In the interaction, filmed by RTÉ, she said of the Budget: “We’ve fought for our money … but we are ignored.”

Harris responded: “No, no, not at all.”

“Yes, we were.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Fine Gael leader Simon Harris was approached during a canvass this evening by a woman who says she is a carer, and who said she believes the Government has "done nothing for us" | follow live: https://t.co/eUoCK3Qb5Y pic.twitter.com/MXiN9b60Ke

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 22, 2024

The woman proceeded to talk about support for people with disabilities. She said the sector is “a joke”.

“You have done nothing for us. Our people are suffering.

“I’m very passionate about my job.”

Harris said he too is very passionate about disability.

The woman responded: “But there’s no mention in the Budget whatsoever.”

You ignored them. You ignored the carers.

Harris then repeatedly said “that’s not true”, before shaking the woman’s hand and walking away.

She said: “Keep shaking hands and pretend you’re a good man”.

He comes back for a moment and she says to him: “You’re not a good man.”

He responds: “You don’t think I’m a good man”, before leaving again.

In Budget 2025, the carer’s allowance was increased by €12. They will also get the €400 “cost of living” lump sum.

While Family Carers Ireland, a representative group for carers, welcomed the measures, they said they “fall short of ensuring a fair and adequate income for those providing care at home”.

The group also said that, given the extra costs incurred by caring households – an average of €244 per week according to research done prior to the widespread cost of living crisis – more needs to be done.

The video of Harris’s campaign trail interaction has been shared widely on social media, and it’s been described as “uncomfortable to watch” and a “car crash in slow motion”.

Disability non-profit Access For All said of Harris: “We never directly attack individuals but this flippancy has really upset us.

They said that carers “don’t seem to matter much” to the government.

This is the moment Simon Harris ignores the pleas of a woman around family carers and the poverty we live in.

We never directly attack individuals but this flippancy has really upset us.

As people who follow us know we have campaigned long and hard for our family carers and… https://t.co/aRmshsUqal

— Access For All Ireland (@AccessForAll7) November 23, 2024

Harris has been accused of not caring about people with disabilties and their carers, with some people calling his response “shameful” and “dismissive”.

Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane said: “It is one thing for Simon Harris to repeatedly tell Mary Lou in the Dáil that she is wrong when she factually points out Government failures.

“It’s something else entirely when he does it to members of the public. Running away from debates & now running away from the public.”

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said Harris’s “dismissive attitude” is emblematic of the government’s “lack of interest in the sector”.

One X user, a carer, said: “You could hear the pain in her voice and he just didn’t want to listen. That’s the problem, [he] will only really listen when someone is giving him a positive comment, he doesn’t want to hear it when you’ve issues you want addressed. I hope she’s doing ok and fair play.”

Another user said: “@SimonHarrisTD Why can’t you just listen and not interrupt? Show some humility instead of this excessive, constant hubris.”

Harris responded to the criticism on an Instagram Live this morning.

“I was in Kanturk last night at the end of a very long day and I was talking to a woman who works in a Section 39 disablity organisation and she was raising issues with me,” he said.

“I want to say I didn’t give her the time that i should’ve given her and I feel really bad about that because it’s not who I am.

Section 39 (health and disability services) workers are employed by agencies in the community and voluntary sector.

Workers have taken issue with them being on different terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

An agreement to increase funding for pay was reached in the WRC in October 2023, with the health minister stating in September this year negotiations regarding further pay funding for organisations in receipt of funding via section 39 arrangements are currently ongoing.

Harris admitted that he “should’ve taken the time to engage” with the woman in Cork yesterday, but that he knows the government needs to make it “an absolute priority issue”.

“We’ve got to look after people with disabiltiies. We’ve got to empower them. We’ve got to support carers better and those who work in disability services.”

He added that he hopes to have a longer conversation with the woman so that she and other voters know he’s “in the business of listening, of learning, and of acting when it comes to disability services”.