Elaine Loughlin: Calamity-prone Helen McEntee undermines Simon Harris's credibility

Simon Harris's success as the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the State is reliant on the success of his Minister for Justice, who right now seems to be making the wrong move at every turn

Having backed HElen McEntee, Simon Harris has also put his own credibility on the line.

Just three weeks into the new gig, Simon Harris's big gamble is already backfiring as Helen McEntee trundles from one calamity to another.

The Taoiseach had been well warned that retaining McEntee in position might have been the easy option, but it would cause future headaches. When he opted to keep the beleaguered minister in his Cabinet, he was immediately accused of "bottling it" by some within his own party.

In the 22 days that Harris has been in office, McEntee has managed to draw the ire of already disillusioned gardaí by refusing to attend the GRA annual conference, siding instead with Commissioner Drew Harris who was not invited.

She has been forced to issue a correction after providing inaccurate garda figures, that were far higher than the actual numbers, relating to the number of gardaí assigned to two garda stations.

Then came a floundering appearance at an Oireachtas Committee last week, during which she revealed that 80% of asylum seekers are now arriving here from across the border.

This assertation has since been dismissed by the Irish Refugee Council CEO Nick Henderson, who said: “We don’t know how the Department of Justice came to the 80% figure and, as far as we know, has not published its methodology."

Snubbed by her counterpart in the UK at an already tense time in relations, McEntee on Monday decided to not attend a meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Council (BIIGC).

Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris (left) and Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee (right). McEntee has managed to draw the ire of already disillusioned gardaí by refusing to attend the GRA annual conference, siding instead with Commissioner Drew Harris who was not invited. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

At 5.02pm on Sunday an embargoed press release was sent out, detailing McEntee's scheduled meeting with Home Secretary James Cleverly the following day. However, at 10.08pm a clarification was circulated.

"The meeting between the Minister for Justice and the Home Secretary tomorrow has been postponed and will be rescheduled in the near future," the one line statement read.

Neither her press adviser — who took up the role on Sunday becoming McEntee's third adviser in less than five months — nor the Department of Justice could say when the minister was told that the meeting was cancelled.

When the Irish Examiner asked for clarification around how long the meeting had been in the minister's own diary; whether flights or accommodation had been booked for the trip; or if a new meeting time had been arranged, a one-line answer was provided.

"The minister is meeting senior officials in Dublin today and regrets she won't be in attendance at the BIIGC, which will be attended by the Tánaiste."

There is no doubt McEntee had plenty of work to be getting on with in Dublin, but her last-minute withdrawal from the BIIGC had a real bang of a child throwing her toys out of the pram after feeling ignored by their more domineering sibling.

Instead, McEntee could have shown real leadership by attending the meeting and using her political clout to strongly put forward Ireland's position in relation to immigration and the controversial Rwanda plan.

Harris, as a minister, was always acutely aware of media framing and optics, and his elevation to Taoiseach has been no different.

Over the weekend, as the issue of asylum seekers coming over the border to circumvent the UK's Rwanda plan made headlines, he announced that he had instructed his minister to bring forward emergency legislation to deal with this.

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However, work on this so-called emergency legislation had been ongoing long before Harris entered the Taoiseach's office and was in fact being drafted as a response to a High Court ruling which struck down the capacity of the Irish government to designate the United Kingdom as a safe country.

"It was signalled some time back that we would deal with that High Court decision through legislation," said Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who did attend Monday's BIIGC meeting.

Being a leader is about making tough and sometimes highly unpopular decisions. There is no hiding in a portfolio like Justice, as former occupants Frances Fitzgerald and Alan Shatter learned.

Having backed McEntee, Harris has also put his own credibility on the line. His biggest challenge will now be to ensure that Fine Gael, a party that prides itself on being strong on law and order, doesn't unravel on that very issue.

His success as the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the State, is therefore reliant on the success of his Minister for Justice, who right now seems to be making the wrong move at every turn.