GE2024 UndecidedFINE GAEL LEADER Simon Harris has said he is “not sure” if he would ask Fine Gael candidate and senator John McGahon to canvass with him in Louth, if the Taoiseach were to visit the county.
The Taoiseach today, again, reiterated his defence of McGahon’s candidacy, noting that he was “duly elected” by the party in Louth.
He told reporters in Meath: “He’s on the ticket, as is councillor Paula Butterly, and it’s up to the people of Louth to decide, if they wish to vote Fine Gael, which candidate to support.”
It is understood that Harris’ schedule setters are unaware if the team will even reach the Wee county before polling day on Friday.
“I’ve made it very clear my view in relation to violence, and I need to reflect on that so I’m not sure is the answer to that,” the Fine Gael leader said, adding that he didn’t know if he’d ask McGahon to leave if he showed up, though noting that “we’re not in that space at all”.
“Whether I do or I don’t get to canvass with senator John McGahon is a matter I’ve yet to decide,” he said.
McGahon was involved in an altercation with farmer Breen White outside a pub in Dundalk in 2018. Although he was acquitted in a 2022 criminal trial of assault causing harm, McGahon was ordered this summer by the High Court to pay White €39,000 after the Castleblayney man sued the senator for assault and battery.
The jury found White had been assaulted and awarded €60,000, including €10,000 for aggravated damages. It apportioned blame at 65% against McGahon and the other 35% against the farmer.
A video of the incident was circulated widely on social media during this election campaign. Breen was also interviewed by The Sunday Times, where images of his injuries from the altercation were shared.
Though Harris has defended McGahon’s candidacy, in recent days he has been reminding voters in Louth that Butterly is also on the ticket. He has also asked voters to judge McGahon “in the round”, considering of his tenure as a senator and representative.
Harris was in Meath for a Fine Gael “rally” in Trim – the first of such an event during this campaign for the Taoiseach.
Images of a Republican or Democratic party event, with loud music, hot dogs, beer and Beyoncé were – presumably – filling the minds of political correspondents, having just recovered from the US election prior to this campaign beginning.
Suffice to say, the 80-or-so party members who gathered in the upstairs conference room of the Trim Castle Hotel this afternoon – facing a plate of rectangular sandwiches, room-temperature water and tea – may not have been in the mood to get a chant started.
Harris and fellow senior party members wasted no time, however, to get Meath’s Fine Gael members riled up, telling them not to leave a stone unturned, a poster unpinned, a leaflet unposted or a door unknocked.
Harris, who has been travelling around Ireland ahead of polling day on Friday, has been campaigning on his so-called new energy but that has not stopped the momentum of hiccoughs facing him and his party during the run up to 29 November.
Public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe told the Fine Gael faithful that he now wears trainers to work in order to keep up with Harris.
But the Taoiseach may also be outrunning the opinion polls, which are beginning to fall behind in the late stages of the campaign.
Referencing a recent dispiriting poll, Harris said that the party should look to the level of undecided voters as an opportunity for Fine Gael to make gains – and convince those who are dissatisfied or apathetic to trust his party to move the country forward.
“I’m respectfully saying to the Irish people that Fine Gael has a plan,” he told Fine Gael disciples in Meath. “A plan for your future, a costed plan, a sensible plan.”
Seeking to dissuade voters from casting a ballot for independent voters, Harris said while people can choose whoever they want to support – elected TDs must still be able to form a government after the election.
“If we end up in a Dáil with many, many, many, many independents. How does that help form a stable government that can hit the ground running and that can lead for the next five years?” he asked.
“So leave nothing in the dressing room – you understand that phrase in Meath – leave everything out there on the pitch.”
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