Politics

Two more Independent TDs confirm backing for Harris as taoiseach

Cathal Berry says he expects to see ‘greater emphasis’ on national security when Simon Harris takes office

Simon Harris TD arriving for a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Armagh on Monday. Photograph: Oliver McVeigh/PA Wire
Simon Harris TD arriving for a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Armagh on Monday. Photograph: Oliver McVeigh/PA Wire
Cormac McQuinn Political Correspondent
Mon Apr 08 2024 - 20:04

Cathal Berry and Peter Fitzpatrick have become the latest Independent TDs to confirm they will support Simon Harris in Tuesday’s Dáil vote that is set to see the new Fine Gael leader become taoiseach.

It means Mr Harris can expect the backing of at least seven Independent TDs, bolstering the current Coalition’s slim Dáil majority.

Aside from Mr Berry and Mr Fitzpatrick the other Independent TDs who have indicated they will vote for Mr Harris on Tuesday are Noel Grealish of Galway West; Roscommon-Galway TD Denis Naughten; Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry; Tipperary TD Michael Lowry; and Donegal’s Joe McHugh, a former Fine Gael minister who is without the whip.

Green Party Dublin Central TD Neasa Hourigan, who is currently suspended from her parliamentary party for a vote against the Government last year, has also confirmed she will vote for Mr Harris, further increasing the expected majority.

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Mr Harris has ruled out doing deals with Independents in exchange for their support, and said his meetings with them this week would not be “transactional”.

Mr Berry has taken a number of days to consider his position on whether to support Mr Harris.

Prior to meeting the new Fine Gael leader last week Mr Berry had called for extra supports for small businesses and farmers and he later said he had also discussed national security and need to expedite school-building projects with Mr Harris during the meeting.

He told The Irish Times on Monday that the “overwhelming feedback” he had from constituents in Kildare since has been that the county has not had a senior cabinet minister since Charlie McCreevy 20 years go and that “if we don’t have a formal seat at Cabinet then at the very least we should position ourselves to influence Cabinet from outside”.

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Mr Berry said he expected to see a “greater emphasis” on national security when Mr Harris takes office.

He added: “National security is intrinsically linked to law and order. We need to get our navy back to sea to disrupt the international drug cartels and reclaim control over our sovereign waters. The current state of lawlessness off our coast is utterly unacceptable.”

Louth TD Mr Fitzpatrick – a former Fine Gael deputy – said he met Mr Harris to talk about issues impacting his constituents, adding: “I rose the issues of housing, health, the cost of living, the importance of supporting our SMEs, the issues facing our border areas and agriculture, to name a few.”

He also raised the case of suicide prevention charity Pieta House seeking an agreement with the Health Service Executive to bring services to Dundalk.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “Minister Harris promised a strong stable government. After this meeting, I will be giving Minister Simon Harris my vote for taoiseach tomorrow.”

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn is a Political Correspondent at The Irish Times