'Wall-to-wall' Harris takes on Mary Lou McDonald in Dáil
During his penultimate Leaders' Questions in the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Simon Harris managed to easily turn the interrogation back on Ms McDonald. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie
The election has yet to be officially called, and yet it feels like the country has reached peak Simon Harris.
In 2021, with her party riding high in the polls on the back of a massively impressive general election, Mary Lou McDonald appeared on comedian Darren Conway's podcast. A promo clip of Darren inviting his 'ma' onto the show went viral.
This week, the Taoiseach had his own Mary Lou McDonald moment when he joined The 2 Johnnies on their highly successful podcast.
Similar to a couple of years ago when Ms McDonald was on a high, Mr Harris now seems to have transcended the political world into popular culture. He is everywhere.
It brings with it a certain confidence, an asset which Mr Harris was never lacking. During his penultimate Leaders' Questions in the Dáil on Tuesday, he managed to easily turn the interrogation back on Ms McDonald.
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Raising what should have been an uncomfortable topic for the leader of the soon-to-be-dissolved Government, McDonald described as "good news" the fact that people will soon have the opportunity to "choose to back a real housing plan from Sinn Féin".
The Taoiseach quickly made it clear that he is also looking forward to the general election, suggesting that it will allow voters to fully scrutinise Sinn Féin's plans.
"What is Sinn Féin's priority when it gets into government?" the Fine Gael leader asked, adding:
"She told the people on RTÉ's that the banks have a couple of issues but the party thinks it can overcome them all.
"What are the issues? Please, when she gets to her feet, will she let us know what are the issues? Did the banks raise one issue? Did they raise five? Did they raise three?"
Swerving the questions posed of her, Ms McDonald turned back to the Government's increased housing targets agreed by Cabinet, suggesting that "after years of hot air from this Government, even as we exit this Dáil and the Taoiseach walks out the door for the final time, he still undersells and underplays and cannot even get his targets right".
It gave Harris the opportunity to accuse his counterpart on the opposition benches of being "terribly confident" about the outcome of the next election "when she says I am walking out the door for the final time and all of this sort of stuff".
"It is good to see the arrogance is back," he added.
Housing will undoubtedly feature in the coming weeks as voters are bombarded with manifestos, election promises and political proposals.
The Taoiseach may not yet have dissolved the Dáil but he has been in campaign mode since being appointed leader of his party earlier this year and has finessed his messaging.
For voters it's going to be a frantic three weeks of wall-to-wall Harris, which the Taoiseach seems fully prepared for.
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