IT’S THE MORNING after Budget 2025 was unveiled in the Dáil, and speculation is continuing to grow over when the next General Election will be held.
But Taoiseach Simon Harris has once again poured water on suggestions that it may be held this side of Christmas.
Well, sort of.
He was brushing off questions about an election date this morning – but just happened to be doing so while out on the streets of Dublin city centre this morning with ministers, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and some of his party’s General Election candidates.
The group canvassed commuters as they got on and off the Luas Green Line at St Stephen’s Green and handed out leaflets outlining “how Budget 2025 helps you”.
Since Harris became Taoiseach six months ago. He has insisted in recent weeks that the Government will go to full term.
However most TDs are primed for an election this side of Christmas – with various Fridays in November being mooted as potential date.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty called on Harris to call the election in the Dáil yesterday and “let the people decide who presents the next budget”.
Harris replied: “Let us pass this budget first.”
Could this be taken as a hint at a pre-Christmas election?
When he appeared on RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock News last night, Harris said the coalition still has a lot of work to do and that the election would be held “in due course”.
But he was asked by reporters this morning whether he had one eye on the election when putting together the Budget, which has been dubbed a “giveaway” by opposition parties and commentators.
Harris said: “I want the Government to finish its work.”
He said he was not going to provide a running commentary on the date, as it would be “utterly disrespectful” to do so.
“The Constitution doesn’t ask that I provide hourly updates to the media on my thinking in relation to the Budget,” he said.
“There’s no mention of that in Bunreacht na hÉireann.
It’s my constitutional prerogative to call the election, but I have been very clear in relation to wanting to do this in a respectful way at the right time.
Harris said he has great respect for coalition leaders Micheál Martin and Roderic O’Gorman, “and I won’t be providing them with running commentaries or surprises”.
“I want the government to finish its work. I want the government to get on with the job. The budget was only yesterday, and the budget has not been enacted into law or at least very few parts of it have.
“There’s a lot of work to do in the time ahead. Government is working well. That’s absolutely where my focus is and my position on the election hasn’t changed.”
When he was pushed to clarify the matter by declaring that it would not happen before Christmas if that was the position, he said:
“My position on this won’t change no matter how many times I’m asked the question.
He reiterated that he wanted the Government to finish its work and to ensure that people “get the benefits that we put in place yesterday”.
“Any conversations I have about the timing of the election – and my position on this has been clear – will happen with leaders, and won’t happen through the media.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, the Tánaiste was singing from a similar hymn sheet. He said his preference for the timing of the election would be February, deeming it “the ideal time”.
“I believe the logistics for anything earlier are very difficult because the Finance Bill still has to be delivered, the Social Protection measures have to be delivered,” Martin said.
“There’s been a speculative frenzy in the last two months. I haven’t contributed to that frenzy. I have been very consistent in terms of my timeline in respect of an election and nothing really has changed in my perspective on it.”
Martin added that he found the frenzy hard to understand “because the difference between November and February isn’t enormous”.
As we await a date, you can read what you will into the Taoiseach’s decision to spend his post-Budget morning canvassing commuters alongside his team of Dáil hopefuls.
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