By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Simon Harris said he has apologised to a woman for not giving her enough time to speak about carers and disability services while he was out canvassing in Cork on Friday.
The Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader said he spoke to Charlotte Fallon, a worker with St Joseph’s Foundation, on the phone on Saturday after a clip of an exchange between them on Friday went viral.
RTÉ footage posted to the social media site X shows Mr Harris on a canvass in Kanturk when Ms Fallon tells the Taoiseach carers “were ignored” and the Government has “done nothing for us”.
“The disability sector is a joke,” she says. “You’ve done nothing for us, our people are suffering. I’m very passionate about my job.”
Mr Harris responds by saying: “No, not at all,” and: “I’m very passionate about disability too.”
Ms Fallon says: “But there’s no mention of (them in the) Budget. You ignored them, you ignore the carers,” to which Mr Harris says: “That’s not true,” several times before shaking her hand and walking away.
While out canvassing at a Christmas market in Rathfarnham in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, Mr Harris said he was annoyed with himself and had called Ms Fallon to apologise.
“I called Charlotte this morning because she was absolutely owed an apology from me,” he said.
“We had a very good conversation, a very good conversation. I was very grateful to her for her time and her kindness.
“We spoke about a number of issues, we spoke about disability services, we spoke about the issue of pay parity for people in Section 39 organisations, and we also spoke about the issue of the means test for carers.
“I was grateful to have a chance to listen to Charlotte and also talk through with her some of my own plans and views and vision in relation to disability services. Really grateful for the conversation, learned a lot from it, and I’ve also said that I’d love to call in to where she works in Cork in the coming weeks, and she said I’d be very welcome.
“I’m annoyed with how I didn’t give that person, Charlotte, the time last night, she deserved that time.
“I’ve been around the country and I’ve had hundreds of conversations some days, and I’ve learned a lot and always learned a lot from listening to people and I’m very sorry that didn’t happen last night.”
Asked what happened last night, he said: “There’s no excuse for it, I’m annoyed with myself in relation to it, disability is what makes me tick.
“It will always be my passion, and it’s Charlotte’s passion too, and I’m really grateful to her for giving me the opportunity to speak with her today.”
Asked whether he thought people would doubt his sincerity on wanting to reform the State’s disability services after seeing the video, Mr Harris said: “I hope not.
“All I can do is really double my efforts to convince people of the facts that we have a plan for the future of this country, and very much at the heart of that plan is better services, better delivery and better empowerment of people with disabilities.
“I’ve tried to bring a focus to it since I’ve become Taoiseach, and it’s something that I will continue to work on intensively and even more intensively as a result of this.”
On Saturday morning, Mr Harris posted a video on Instagram where he said he was spurred on to become a politician after seeing his parents fight for access to services for his brother Adam, who has autism.
He said the interaction happened at the end of a “very long day” and he felt “really bad” about it.
Mr Harris then outlined his party’s plans for carers and the disability sector, including removing the means testing for the Carers’ Allowance and to ensure that there are therapies in special schools and special classes.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said that Mr Harris’ reaction “showed the true face of Fine Gael” and showed “a contempt for working people”.
Speaking at a press event in Dublin on Saturday, Fine Gael ministers Helen McEntee and Paschal Donohoe defended their party leader.
“I think the Taoiseach himself has been very clear that he wished the encounter had gone differently. It had been the end of a very, very long day,” Ms McEntee said.
“What he said very clearly is that he should have given her more time, and should have engaged for longer with her, but this is the reason he got into politics.”
Mr Donohoe said: “In the course of an election campaign, in all the interactions that we have with people, of course, we sometimes feel within ourselves ‘that could have gone differently’ and ‘could have gone better’. I think it’s particularly the case for somebody who is so committed to looking at how we can support those who need more.”
