GE2024 The Big InterviewLAST UPDATE | 13 Nov
HOUSEHOLDS WILL HAVE further hikes to their energy bills offset if Fine Gael are returned to government in a bid to tackle rising cost, Taoiseach Simon Harris has promised in a special sit-down interview with Virgin Media.
In a high-tempo interview opposite presenter Colette Fitzpatrick – the first in-depth discussion featuring one of the party leaders of this election campaign – Harris defended the government’s record on the housing crisis, cost-of-living increases and waiting lists in hospitals.
Harris also said funds would have to be set aside to prepare for “difficult days” as he warned of the increasing risk of a “trans-Atlantic trade shock” given Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election.
Discussing his record from his time as health minister, Harris admitted he thinks “every day” about his 2017 promise that no more children would have to wait for vital scoliosis surgery, only for the list to continue into present times.
Harris teased the full reveal of a plan to offset energy bills for later this week when Fine Gael launches its election manifesto.
Fianna Fáil had criticised Fine Gael’s plan to reduce the VAT rate for the food and hospitality sector to 11%, saying it would directly lead to a 2% increase in the energy bills of every business and every household in the country.
“On the one hand, they are proposing to reduce the VAT rate for hospitality, while on the other hand they are increasing the VAT rate for all business, including hospitality,” Minister for Finance Jack Chambers said of his coalition colleagues in recent days.
Speaking tonight on Virgin Media, Harris said “energy bills will not go up because they will be offset” in the full proposal to be launched on Sunday.
While he appeared to accept that there will be a 2% increase in energy bills, Harris said that his “party will show you at the weekend how we intend to take measures to offset that” against further rises in energy bills.
He said the party would aim to help the “squeezed middle” by “abolishing” third level college fees and capping childcare fees at €200 as some examples of state intervention by Fine Gael in government.
“I’m meeting people all the time, who are not wealthy the nurse married to the guard with three children in college,” he said, “They might be paying €9,000 a year in registration fees.”
Harris defended the government’s record on housing, amid pointed criticism by Fitzpatrick who said Ireland now has its lowest home ownership of the modern era. She quizzed Harris on giving people money via the help to buy scheme to reach “extortionately high” prices for a home.
The scheme has come under increasing pressure this campaign – while Fianna Fáil also supports it, many other parties do not and several analysts have warned this week that it’s causing house prices to rise further.
Responding to this, Harris said he remains content in the help to buy scheme, calling it a “great idea” which has helped to “unpause lives”. Fine Gael pledges to hike the grants of by a third to €40,000 if returned to government.
Asked if he feels shame for the housing crisis, the Wicklow TD said “you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t” and that you’d need to be “robotic” or “heartless” to not feel discomfort.
“But politics isn’t about that. Politics is about, actually, what you’re going to do to make their lives better,” he added.
On immigration, Harris said he was not following the way the wind was blowing in deciding to take a firmer stance on immigration but was instead “listening to the people of Ireland”.
“The people want of Ireland have said yes we want compassion but also we want common sense,” he said, adding that people “want their deportation system to work” as well.
“Since I became Taoiseach, I have been very clear that the system needs to be firmer,” he said.
Harris said processing times have been “much faster” in recent months but he also disputed the use of the term “illegal migrant”.
He said: “That’s a phrase that is used by some but that’s not a phrase in law. Anybody has a right to come here and seek international protection – it is the job then of the Department of Justice to assess the validity of the application.”
Harris said that he has “no truck for the far-right”, who he called “despicable” for their attacks on different sections of society.
He added that “nobody has a veto” on people moving into their community, saying that “not everybody” talking about migration “is far-right, there are decent people across this country who just want to be consulted” about the sheltering of people seeking international protection into their towns.
Harris faced further questions about a promise to eliminate the waiting list for any child awaiting scoliosis surgery for more than four months from his time as health minister.
“I think about this every day, and I think did I do the right thing or not in relation to this,” he said of his vow made in 2017.
“When I made that commitment – or indeed when the commitment was given to me by the HSE, but the buck stops with me – there were well over 200 children waiting over four months.”
He said “real, massive progress” had been made by the time he left the role in 2020, but – after he was pulled up on it by Fitzpatrick – conceded that there were still around 35 children on the waiting list three years after he made his public promise.
The Taoiseach accepted that, in 2024, there are more than 80 children continuing to wait more than four months for surgery. He outlined that the government hopes to reduce this with the appointment of a clinical lead to get the number of children waiting to “20 or below by Christmas”.
“I haven’t forgotten about this commitment I haven’t forgotten about the faces I’ve seen,” he said.
Next week, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald will sit down with Fitzpatrick. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will follow next as part of the interview series, which Virgin said has been randomly selected to decide the order of appearances by the major party leaders.
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