Election 2024 live updates: Simon Harris ‘not sure’ if he will canvass with Fine Gael candidate John McGahon in Louth

Fianna Fáil holds a very slight lead over the two other main parties as polling day rapidly approaches, according to a Business Post/Red C poll published this evening.
Support for Fianna Fáil is on 21 per cent, and both Sinn Féin and Fine Gael are neck and neck on 20 per cent.
This is the last major opinion poll to be published before polling stations open on Friday.
A Fine Gael general election candidate has said she feels a “targeted campaign” is being run to “ignore” her candidacy in favour of her male running mate, reports Political Correspodent Jennifer Bray.
One of the party’s two election candidates in Wexford, Councillor Bridín Murphy, said she was “gobsmacked” to learn of a Fine Gael letter which has been sent out to households in the county and which urges people to vote for her running mate Councillor Cathal Byrne.
Read the full report here.
In his interview on the Six One, the Taoiseach was also asked about former Fine Gael Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy, and his claims that a plan to declare a housing emergency – among other measures – was turned down by then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Paschal Donohue.
“I think some of the people who were the most ardent critics of Eoghan Murphy now hold him up as the font of all wisdom on housing, which I think is some turnaround,” Mr Harris said.
“I also know that Eoghan Murphy said in [his] book too that there were reasons why some things couldn’t happen at that time, that Brexit and restoring our economic sovereignty had to be the priority.”
Asked if “brawling outside a pub after closing” was against Fine Gael’s code of conduct, Taoiseach Simon Harris said: “Well I certainly think it was utterly inappropriate behavior, I’m very clear in relation to that, and I do think we’ll have to reflect further on these matters into the future.”
He was responding to questions about Senator John McGahon in an interview on RTÉ’s Six One.
During last night’s Prime Time debate, party leaders served up plenty of soundbites as they navigated sticky questioning and traded verbal barbs with one another – Simon Harris’s pledge to “get people’s children back from Australia” was one such example.
But what can we learn from what wasn’t said? Joe Humphreys has spoken to behavioural psychologist Prof Vlad Glaveanu to break it down.
“Political body language is a fascinating case of what can make or break a candidate,” he says.
Read the full report here.
The Irish Times general election reader panel has been reacting to last night’s RTÉ Prime Time leaders debate.
Jo Cahalan, a 73-year-old who ran a shop in Abbeyleix, Co Laois for years and a former Fine Gael member, said she believed “Micheál Martin came out ahead, definitely his experience showed”.
Admin worker Seán Ryan (54), who lives in Castleconnell, in rural Co Limerick, said: “I doubt anyone changed their mind based on debate performances or substance. No one let themselves down. Apart from a few Harris-McDonald spats, debate was civil.”
Read more reaction here.
Enda O’Dowd went along to Fine Gael’s event in Trim, Co Meath for us today. Watch below.
Over one million people tuned in to last night’s RTÉ Prime Time leader’s debate between Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Deputy Mary Lou McDonald (for at least one minute).
A total of 1,060,000 tuned in to the debate on RTÉ One, with 87,000 streaming on the RTÉ Player.
The full programme averaged at 565,000 viewers.
Work Correspondent Emmet Malone reports: The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) has pushed back against a claim by the Taoiseach during Tuesday evening’s television debate that “everybody who wants a job has a job”.
INOU director Brid O’Brien said that while the country might be enjoying “full employment,” “that’s really just an economics term that has a very particular meaning”.
“There’s are still lots of people struggling to find work and lots of employers who are looking for employees, it doesn’t mean that they are a good match,” she said.
“People might have very different skills, very different experience to what is required in their area, some are coming from communities and circumstances where getting a foot in the door of a job in the first place is a challenge while for others the length of time they have been out of work can act as a barrier.
“Outside of Dublin the lack of transport is often an issue, particularly in cases where the hours to be worked are less social and there are a lot of places in Ireland where good jobs have been lost and where the ones brought in to replace them have not been of the same quality.
“It’s disappointing to hear this because people should be aware of the reality. Yes, we do have ‘full employment’ but it’s not a very inclusive labour market and there are still a lot of challenges for many people out there who are actively looking for work.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris has said that doesn’t know if he will campaign in Louth with candidate John McGahon.
“I’m not sure is the honest answer,” he said when the question was put to him following a rally in Trim, Co Meath on Wednesday.
“John McGahon is the duly selected Fine Gael candidate, he’s on the ticket. As is Councillor Paula Butterly, and it’s up to the people of louth which candidate to support.”
When pressed, he said: “I’d need to reflect on that, so I’m not sure if the honest answer.”
Asked if he would ask Mr McGahon to leave if he turned up to a canvass, Mr Harris said: “No we’re not in that space at all, but whether I do or don’t not get to canvass with Senator McGahon is a matter I’m not yet decided on.”
Party officials said there was no decision yet made on whether Mr Harris would go to Louth in the final days of the campaign.
Mr Harris was also pressed about statements on last night’s television debate when he said he didn’t believe that Fine Gael had requested RTÉ not to broadcast the video from Kanturk which has caused him such difficulty, and about allegations that Fine Gael had suggested to RTÉ that Charlotte Fallon – with whom Mr Harris had the engagement – was a member of Sinn Féin.
“Yeah, I’ve asked that question and I don’t believe that was the case,” he said. Pressed as to whether he didn’t believe it to be the case or knew it to be the case, Mr Harris twice repeated: “I’ve asked that question and I do not believe it to be the case”.
He said there was constant engagement between all parties and RTÉ – and with other media outlets – and that he was satisfied that there was nothing inappropriate about any contacts.
Mr Harris added that his party – unlike the Sinn Féin leader – was not suing RTÉ or proposing to review RTÉ.
Asked if he would encourage RTÉ to publish the nature of the representations from Fine Gael, Mr Harris said that RTÉ had already commented on the issue, and said it received regular contacts from parties.
We slice and dice the manifesto pledges of the main parties under ten policy headings.
Sinn Féin have asked the Irish public to “lend us your vote” saying there is a “moment we have never had in a century that exists right now” to change the government, writes Jennifer Bray.
In a strategy reminiscent of Fine Gael’s Phil Hogan in the 2011 general election, when he called on the public and Fianna Fáil voters to lend their votes to his party, the Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty asked voters who do not traditionally align with his party to give them a borrowed chance.
“If you want these parties out of government then lend us your vote. Lend your vote because it is only Sinn Féin that can stop Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael re-entering government after Friday’s election. Lend us your vote to give us a chance to make life better for you, your families and for your communities. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are trying to convince you that change is not possible so let’s together prove them wrong,” Doherty said on Merrion Street in Dublin as the general election campaign enters its final hours.
“I genuinely believe that there is an opportunity here, that wasn’t there in the past. There is an opportunity now for people who really want change. People need to come out and support us and lend us their vote. We are standing 71 candidates. We feel a momentum on the ground. There is a moment we have never had in a century that exists right now.”
He also said “by voting for an Independent, you’re not changing the government, and that’s the reality. A lot of people know that hand on heart. There are also people out there who don’t support Sinn Féin, but definitely don’t want Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government. We are saying to them, we understand you may not be Sinn Féin voters but you want Fianna Fáil out, so lend us your vote.”
Outgoing Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said it would be important to get a new government in place before Donald Trump is installed as US president towards the end of January, writes Jack Horgan-Jones.
With opinion polls suggesting an inconclusive result may arise from Friday’s general election, the Fianna Fáil leader said that “timelines will be tight, but it would be important I think if we could get that done”.
With the Dáil set to meet on December 18th, he said it would be “very tight” in his estimation to elect a new Taoiseach then but warned against “getting ahead of ourselves”.
He said much would depend on results in the election, but said that the “fragmented” political system could have an impact on the stability of the next government. The next government had to be “solid, coherent and have the capacity to last four and a half to five years”.
Asked about the impact of Independent candidates running, he said it was a feature of the fragmentation which itself could “affect or shape the formation of a government that could be decisive in nature”.
“Too much fragmentation would lead to incoherence would lead to incoherence in government and would lead to much more short termism, and we ask the electorate to consider that before they make their decisions.”
He said there were concerns about Mr Trump’s election due to the shape of the economy and the dependence on free trade, and that a tariff war between the US and EU would be “problematic”.
The Social Democrats are “in the hunt” for Dáil seats in ten or more constituencies, according to the party’s deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan, writes Cormac McQuinn.
The Dublin Bay North candidate said the party is “very hopeful” it can retain the six seats and add more when the people go to the polls on Friday.
He made the remarks at the party’s last formal press conference of the election race.
He said at the start of the campaign Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were behaving as if the result was “sewn up” but it is clear now that the outcome is “very much yet to be determined”.
He said where are a “huge amount” of undecided voters and “we’re also seeing significant momentum behind the Social Democrats”.
He highlighted how his party was the fourth place party – on 6 per cent – in Monday’s Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll.
Mr O’Callaghan argued that the party’s message on the need for affordable housing and childcare and improved disability service is “resonating” with people.
With party leader Holly Cairns expecting a baby imminently, Mr O’Callaghan has been filling in at national campaign events while she has been active online and in her Cork-South West constituency.
Mr O’Callaghan said she is “doing well” but there is “no news as of yet”.
He said Ms Cairns has “played a very strong role in our campaign, especially in the opening stages, and she’s doing huge work online”.
Wicklow candidate Jennifer Whitmore said: “women have babies, that’s just reality and that’s life and we have to support them if we want more women to run.”
She said: “we’ve all done our bit”. “If we want a different kind of politics, we have to work and operate differently. And the Social Democrats are living that. We’re showing it.”
Sarah Burns reports
Hairdresser Lisa Eccles says this year will be the first time in 15 years that her hair and beauty salon in Kilmainham in Dublin will not have made a profit.
Eccles, the owner of Zinc on the South Circular Road, says she has lost about €17,000 in the past year due to increasing energy bills and rising wage costs.
“I’m working at a loss now,” she says. “And I run a tight ship, a very tight business.”
Eccles, from Palmerstown and also the president of the Irish Hairdressers Federation, is standing in her salon on a bright but chilly November morning as customers go about getting their hair cut and nails done.
With just days out from the general election, Eccles, who would have traditionally been a Fine Gael supporter, says she doesn’t know who she will vote for.
She describes the party’s pledge to lower the VAT rate for the hospitality industry to 11 per cent in its election manifesto as “frustrating”.
“We’ve only just come out of a budget where they haven’t given us anything,” she says.
“I think it’s a very cynical ploy from them to hold back on giving small businesses a bit of something which would have helped them through what’s been a really difficult year. To hold that back as an election tactic, I think it’s actually disgraceful.”
Eccles adds there are certain parties she would not vote for, such as Aontú, and that she has been impressed with the Social Democrats and its leader Holly Cairns.
“As for Sinn Féin, as much as you would love to see something different, they would be even worse for business,” she says.
“I think they would go after the multinationals and we would just be collateral damage. So then it’s do you leave it with better the devil you know than the devil you don’t?”
Read more here.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín says the party has no red lines as such but will need any potential partners in government to take account of its approach, writes Harry McGee.
Speaking on the campaign trail, Mr Tóibín said: “The immigration debate is an example of that. I know this is a very energised debate. I think it’s important to say that we’ve always come from the perspective that we’re opposed to ethno-nationalism.
“We have many migrants who are members of the party and we are a pluralist republican political party. Identities in Ireland are equal and should be respected. I think we need to understand a bit more that people have a right to be able to speak about who comes into the country or not. That’s an area of influence for ourselves.”
Mr Tóibín established Aontú after walking out from Sinn Féin almost a decade ago on the abortion issue.
Read more here
Award-winning Irish Times videographer Enda O’Dowd was on the campaign trail in Kerry with Independent political machine Micheal Healy Rae and has produced this gem. It includes everything from election songs to cracking nuts.
Pat Leahy writes:
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said that he is not aware of who made any representations from Fine Gael to RTÉ about the Kanturk video but has satisfied himself that they were entirely appropriate.
He said he satisfied himself of this by the normal preparation for media encounters. Mr Donohoe was speaking with Dublin Noeth West candidate Noel Rock, drawing attention to a Fine Gael campaign video warning about Sinn Féin economic policies, which it claims would see “the lights go out” on Irelands economic progress.
And this is the video to which Pat Leahy refers in his report:
Cormac McQuinn has been there for The Irish Times and send us this Tweet. Report to follow.
Sarah Burns reports
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said his message to voters ahead of the general election on Friday is not to allow the country “sleepwalk into a conservative government”.
Mr O’Gorman said it looked like Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would be returned to Government but they would need “something extra”.
He said there was “a very real possibility” of right-wing Independents or small populist parties propping up the next government.
“In the same way as the Green Party provided a progressive direction over the last four and a half years, small parties, populist parties, could provide a very negative, a very regressive direction going forward,” he told reporters in Dublin.
“We could have the very real possibility of the likes of Mattie McGrath as environment minister in the next number of years, rolling back on the key changes that the Green Party implemented.
“We could have Peadar Tóibín as Minister for Health, rowing back on the reproductive rights that women have won over the last five years.”
Only in Kerry would politics be seen through the filter of football. Of course, there’s a long tradition of footballers continuing their careers in politics from Dan Spring in the 1940s to multiple All-Ireland winner Jimmy Deenihan from the 1980s.
Anyway Seán Mac an tSíthigh of TG4 went to the temple (Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Corca Dhuibhne) to bring us this quirky report. It’s in Irish but níl an Ghaeilge deacair!
Vivienne Clarke reports
Minister for Finance Jack Chambers has defended the figures in Fianna Fáil’s election manifesto in a debate on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show with Paschal Donohoe, Pearse Doherty and Paul Murphy.”
All of the figures in our manifesto have been costed by the Department of Finance, by the Department of Public Expenditure, in consultation with them and what we’ve set aside, for example, we set aside €20 billion for existing levels of service and a public pay deal,” said Mr Chambers.
“We’re putting aside €50 billion to fully fund the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund to protect Ireland’s economic progress and to ensure that Ireland can withstand any uncertainty and risk which may crystallise.”
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that at election time parties made different claims when asked why he had previously said there was a “big hole” in Fianna Fáil’s manifesto. He added that he had worked “very well” with Mr Chambers in government.
“I raised questions in relation to this because I think it’s really important to be able to have solid foundations for our manifestos. We have those. We are proposing to set aside up to €50 billion across the next number of years to deal with risks that could come back.”
Mr Chambers said that he had responded to concerns and in turn he too had concerns about the manifestos of other parties, particularly where there was a gap on public pay.
“We believe Sinn Féin’s manifesto, for example, has excessive tax increases. So parties make charges relating to manifestos. And we have criticisms that we’ve made of other ones, but our manifesto is fully costed, it’s fully accounted for.”
On Morning Ireland Ms McDonald defended her attendance at the funerals of former IRA members.She said she attended because she believed in respect for the dead
“Can I respectfully say to you, whatever people’s perspectives are, in the past or the present, I think trying to use funerals and people’s human goodbyes as a mechanism to score political points is cheap,” she said.
Austin Stack is a son of Brian Stack and also a Fianna Fáil candidate in Laois. Ms McDonald is visiting Laoise today and Mr Stack has said on X he intends to confront her over this issue.
In a statement, he has said: “These remarks are particularly insulting and hurtful coming on a day when Ms McDonald will visit Portlaoise where the IRA blew up and murdered Garda Michael Clerkin and where my father who was murder by the IRA was a Chief Prison Officer.”
Gemma Hussey was a leading figure in Irish politics from the 1970s for well over three decades, as a Fine Gael Minister and TD. She was also in the vanguard of those campaigning for equality in Irish society throughout her adult life. She died yesterday at the age of 86. Emmet Malone has this report on her life.
Her former colleague Frances Fitzgerald posted this tribute to her on X.
Hugh Linehan, Pat Leahy and Jack-Horgan Jones share their views on last night’s televised debate in the latest of our Election Daily podcasts. Listen here.
Vivienne Clarke reports:
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, apologised for how the resignation of Niall Ó Donnghaile was handled.
“My first instinct in that case was to pass on the complaint that we had received to the statutory authorities in this case, to the PSNI and to social services north of the border. That’s how child protection protocols operate.
“I very much regret the statement that I made as Niall Ó Donnghaile left Sinn Féin and his political career. I’ve spoken about this before. I’ve been in contact with the young person in question through their mother and if I had it to do again, I would not have made that statement at the time. There were concerns around Niall Ó Donnghaile and a mental health crisis, but actually that doesn’t matter. The statement shouldn’t have been made.”To me, the more important and the most important matter at the time was the correct reporting of the issue.”
“Now, I accept, having heard from the young person in question and how that landed with them, that actually that statement shouldn’t have been made. And I acknowledge that I’ve apologised.”
On the issue of Sinn Féin’s call for an independent review of RTÉ’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza, Ms McDonald said she was “a bit taken aback” at the “defensive note” that had been struck on the topic.
“This is to be an independent review. Independent means, independent of politics. It’s proposed to be a peer review of your journalistic peers and human rights experts. It’s similar to an exercise undertaken by the BBC, where in terms of migration policy and policy, where they did it without any hullabaloo.”
Ms McDonald also defended her attendance at the funerals of former IRA members.She said she attended because she believed in respect for the dead
“And can I respectfully say to you, whatever people’s perspectives are, in the past or the present, I think trying to use funerals and people’s human goodbyes as a mechanism to score political points is cheap.”
The Virgin Media Political Correspondent dusts off an excellent video he made four years ago that explains how our system of proportional representation works. And all while using a box of Smarties. Sweet!
Fine Gael will hold a rally in Trim Co Meath involving the Taoiseach, Helen McEntee and other party members. Paschal Donoghue and Noel Rock will also be talking to the media this morning as they canvass in Dublin North West.
Ivana Bacik and Ged Nash will hold a press conference in Labour Party headquarters this morning. They will set out the “six missions to ensure a fair and secure future for young people in Ireland”.
People Before Profit will unveil a banner with its final election message on Rosie Hackett Bridge.
For Fianna Fáil Michael Martin and Jack Chambers will hold a press conference in central Dublin this morning.
Cian O’Callaghan will also hold a press conference on behalf of the Social Democrats.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman will focus strongly on the need for Government stability in the coming 5 years, with potential economic shocks and climate breakdown threats on the horizon.
The Independent Ireland co-founder, Richard O’Donoghue, was on Morning Ireland for an interview that raised a few eyebrows.
One of the party’s more ambitious (and probably impossible) aims is to bring light railway to every county in Ireland. He was asked how it would fund that very expensive proposal.
In the course of his response he said Independent Ireland would extend Donegal’s existing rail system. Sadly, Donegal is one of the few counties with no rail system.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan picked this up.
Retired Irish Times photographer Eric Luke has been posting outstanding pictures from his back catalogue on social media. Last night, he published a selection from the first ever live televised debate on RTÉ, that between Charlie Haughey and Garret FitzGerald on Today Tonight. Brian Farrell was the moderator.
Justin McCarthy has just concluded a very probing interview with the Sinn Féin leader on Morning Ireland. The main news line is that the party will borrow money to deal with an economic shock, if it is in Government.
Vivienne Clarke will have all the details shortly …
Vivienne Clarke writes:
Richard O’Donoghue, general secretary and a candidate for the Independent Ireland party in the upcoming general election, outlined the party’s platform, which includes a focus on regional balance and representation, cost-of-living measures such as tax cuts and subsidised rents, and infrastructure investments like light rail systems.
He defended the party’s costing of these proposals, arguing that Government waste could be reduced to fund them.
“We’re going to do a full audit of the NGO services in this country. They’re only partially funded. There are NGOs in this country that have been fully funded and given no support. You look at the children’s hospital, you look at the design of the children’s hospital, all of which cost millions to design when all the people wanted was care. You could have built a system just like a square box. Easy extend, easy build. You could actually build something for a quarter of the price of which government are spending money on.”
Mr O’Donoghue also addressed the party’s stance on immigration, they want a streamlined process for handling undocumented immigrants, with a maximum six-month stay before deportation if documentation cannot be provided.
He also acknowledged the lack of infrastructure to house refugees and asylum seekers in his own constituency, but said that his party was committed to addressing this issue and integrating new arrivals into local communities.
It’s very hard to predict the impact Gerard Hutch will have on the outcome in Dublin Central where he is a candidate in a very crowded field. Here he sets out his views to the indefatigable Henry McKean of Newstalk.
Vivienne Clarke writes
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik repeated her party’s plan to introduce State-run reception and integration centres on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
This could be achieved by repurposing vacant buildings, such as Baggot Street hospital, to provide accommodation, and implementing the recommendations of the Catherine Day Expert Group report.
Ms Bacik emphasised the need for a more inclusive and welcoming society, and highlighted the contributions that immigrants and refugees have made to Ireland, particularly in the healthcare sector. “Frankly I think that Sinn Féin’s policy on immigration is simply unsustainable, to suggest that there is a particular benchmark of affluence. That’s not appropriate. Across the country in affluent and not so affluent communities, we are seeing success stories of integration.”
Labour’s housing policy included the creation of a state-led construction company to build 10,000 social and affordable homes within three years, as well as the use of the Land Development Agency to deliver more homes, she added.
There are many views on who actually won last night’s debate. The suggests that the debate failed to produce a clear winner and the uncertainty as to the outcome of Friday’s poll remains.
What is clear is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will major on the macro economy in the next 48 hours, warning of economic shocks and trying to highlight what they claim are vulnerabilities in Sinn Féin’s proposals. Housing is another issue that will be closely scrutinised.
All of the party’s are holding press conferences today. Fine Gael is actually holding a rally in Trim Co Meath. They have not really been features of Irish general election in recent years.
There is plenty of coverage in The Irish Time today including this great piece of commentary and analysis from Miriam Lord.
And other Irish Times writers, Hugh Linehan, Úna Mullaly and Gerard Howlin, give their verdicts.