Simon Harris: Tackling crime and supporting businesses are my priorities
Simon Harris: 'I'm very conscious of the challenges being felt by small businesses at the moment.'
Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has said tackling crime and supporting small businesses will be his priorities when he assumes the role of Taoiseach.
Mr Harris said while he was mindful of the programme for government, there are several specific areas, like crime, enterprise and housing, where he wants to ensure progress is made.
Speaking to reporters at the 1916 Easter Rising Commemoration, Mr Harris said that he intends to “flesh out” his plans for Government at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in Galway next Saturday.
“I'm very conscious of the challenges being felt by small businesses at the moment and very conscious around the cost of doing business in Ireland, particularly for small businesses around the country,” Mr Harris said.
“I'm also conscious of a number of issues around crime and public safety and obviously, the whole area of housing remains the biggest overriding priority for government and society.”
Mr Harris said that he would use the party’s Ard Fheis to set out priorities for all Fine Gael ministers at Cabinet.
“I'm also conscious of the fact that there's a defined period of time left in the lifetime of this government and I want to use every day, every week to make a difference.”
When asked about a potential reshuffle, Mr Harris declined to detail any changes he would make, saying that would be done when the Taoiseach is elected.
“My genuine obsession is on policy and delivery and, of course, I'll be choosing ministers in due course that I believe are best positioned to advance those policies,” Mr Harris said.
Speculation has been ongoing since the appointment of Mr Harris as Fine Gael leader about who will serve in his Cabinet, with some expectation that he could drop Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney and move Helen McEntee out of the Justice portfolio.
It has been suggested that junior ministers Peter Burke and Jennifer Carroll MacNeill could be promoted to Cabinet in a reshuffle, alongside Alan Dillon to the junior benches following the resignation of Josepha Madigan.
Also speaking at the 1916 commemoration, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said there are no plans to renegotiate the existing programme for government, but accepted that other priorities can arise.
“You're always re-examining priorities because other things come up. No one could have expected the war in Ukraine, no one could have expected the scale of our budget surplus where we have to respond to setting up the future funds,” Mr Ryan said.
“So you do have to constantly evolve in government, but the existing programme for government is serving, I believe, the country well, and I think we should see out the full term of office to deliver on it. That should be our focus and will be.”
