Election 2024 — Harris backs McGahon; Cairns out of debate; New bank holiday?
Senator John McGahon. File picture: Collins Courts
Taoiseach Simon Harris has doubled down on his support of embattled election candidate John McGahon, as pressure comes on the Fine Gael senator to make a public statement.
Mr McGahon was acquitted in 2022 of assaulting Breen White outside a Dundalk nightclub in 2018, but the Fine Gael senator was found to be 65% civilly liable by a High Court jury.
Over the weekend, photos of Mr White’s injuries were published, leading to calls for Mr Harris to answer questions on Mr McGahon’s candidacy. Video has also been circulating on social media.
The Taoiseach said he has seen the video of the incident online, but he does not believe it is all of the footage as seen by the jury.
“A jury looked at all of the footage, a judge looked at all of the footage and a jury acquitted John McGahon and that has to be the standard that we hold in terms of our criminal justice system,” Mr Harris said.
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“What John McGahon did was clearly wrong, there’s no doubt in relation to that at all,” Mr Harris said.
“But he was acquitted and he did put forward a self-defence defence in the court that was accepted by the jury.”
Mr Harris rejected assertions that the incident would undercut Fine Gael’s message of being tough on crime.
The Green Party is proposing an additional bank holiday be added to the calendar bringing Ireland up to 12 in line with the EU average.
The party championed the introduction of the February bank holiday, Roderic O'Gorman said, and if returned to government would push for one on the first weekend in July.
Mr O'Gorman was speaking as the party launched its plans to enhance the work/life balance including examining the prospect of a four-day work week.
It is an idea that is complicated and complex, he said, and the best way to explore these is with a Citizen's Assembly.
"What we are proposing is the Citizen's Assembly to tease out these issues, to examine it in detail. We are not talking about immediate implementation," Mr O'Gorman said.
Among the questions raised by the possibility of a shorter working week, is how the public service would engage with it and what rates of pay would be involved.
Mr O'Gorman acknowledged that many small businesses are currently struggling and said the party manifesto has measures to address those needs and the introduction of a short work week would be managed to ensure it does not increase the pressures on these businesses.
Bringing in a four-day work week would not require a referendum and would be a matter for the government of the day to consider the findings of the Citizen's Assembly.
Holly Cairns will not be participating in Monday night's general election leaders' debate.
The Social Democrats leader is due to give birth in a matter of days and is unable to travel to Dublin to take part in the televised debate between the 10 party leaders.
As she cannot make the journey from Cork, deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan will take her place.
Earlier in the campaign, Mr O'Callaghan said that Ms Cairns would be leading the party into the election and that he would be supporting her.
"I'll certainly be helping during the election campaign, fulfilling some of the role that, in other circumstances, Holly would be able to do," said Mr O'Callaghan.
"But she is our leader, remains our leader, will be our leader throughout the campaign. She will be doing as much as she can but where I can help, I will."
Tonight marks the first leaders' debate of the three-week election campaign.
Earlier, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he is “surprised” that the Taoiseach is continuing to back Mr McGahon.
“From what we’ve seen over the weekend it was quite a vicious assault, or encounter put it that way,” Mr Martin said, speaking on RTÉ Radio.
“It’s the video, if you see it — it’s online everywhere — it's quite shocking and the issue needs to be addressed.”
Mr Martin said his party would not have run a candidate in the general election in the same situation as Mr McGahon, “if we knew what is known now”.
The Tánaiste added that there is a victim in this situation.
“Striking to the head is very, very dangerous and thankfully here [it] didn’t lead to worse consequences but it could have.”
He added that the general public will ultimately decide who they want to represent them, when polling day arrives on November 29.
On Sunday, Mr Harris backed Mr McGahon, saying that the party would continue to canvas for him and that he was found not guilty in 2022.
Later, Mr Martin asked if Mr McGahon would have been picked for Fianna Fáil. Mr Martin said he did not "want to be too judgmental" but said he would not have been picked.
Mr Martin stopped short of criticising the Taoiseach's judgement around Mr McGahon, but said he was "surprised" at how Mr Harris had "doubled down" on his support for the senator.
Mr Martin said that he was "shocked" when he had seen the video of the incident, saying that footage of Mr McGahon appearing to strike Mr White in the head was "very serious".
Mr Harris had been asked about Mr McGahon's candidacy ahead of his selection and said in July that Mr McGahon was remorseful over what had happened.
"There was clearly an incident, a scuffle, and he shouldn’t have put himself in that scenario. It was not assault as it was deemed by a criminal court not to be,” he said.
However, Mr Martin said that the incident was "anything but a scuffle". He did not say, however, whether he would be comfortable in a coalition where Mr McGahon was a Fine Gael minister. Mr Martin said that he would not prejudge the outcome of the election.
Meanwhile, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said that Mr McGahon was found not guilty in the 2022 criminal trial, but that any cases of violence were “extremely regrettable”.
“I have to then look at the engagement that I’ve had with him [McGahon] where in the aftermath of that criminal trial, I found somebody who works very hard at being a politician who has put his name in front of the people of Louth,” Mr Donohoe said.
Asked about the civil case, Mr Donohoe said that Mr McGahon paid a significant fine — €39,000 in damages — to Mr White.
“it is still not for me to second guess the outcome from a criminal trial. He was acquitted, he’s since paid a large fine for it, which he should do,” Mr Donohoe told Newstalk.
“From the engagement that I’ve had with John over recent years, I’ve found somebody that works very hard at his job who will be making the case to his constituents.”
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