Taoiseach Simon Harris has said there has been “an undertone” of sexism in relation to criticism of Helen McEntee.
The Fine Gael leader defended his party’s deputy leader after criticism of her tenure in the Justice Department, where she pushed forward legislation on crimes aggravated by hate and established an agency to tackle domestic violence.
“I think some of the comments have been, you know, a bit inappropriate, quite frankly,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
When asked whether this included comments from Fianna Fáil, Mr Harris said: “I’m not getting into this reopening tit-for-tat stuff, but I do think people need to check some of the language they had used in recent days in relation to some of the criticisms.”
Asked whether he thought they were sexist, he said: “I think there’s an undertone there at times and I think it’s not just confined to Minister McEntee but also to many women in politics, and I think we need to be aware of that and I think we need to call that out.
“If you look at things like the issues that she’s highlighted, domestic, sexual, gender-based violence, name me a justice minister ever in the history of the state that has placed a greater focus on that issue.
“When you look at things like migration and the changes in policies that we’ve brought about in relation to faster processing times, deportations, making sure we have a fair, firm system, her record speaks for itself and I’m very proud of the work she does.”
He said comment pieces in the Irish Times and the Irish Independent about Fianna Fáil’s criticism of Ms McEntee “made very fair points”.
The pieces referenced criticism of Ms McEntee for focusing on “airy-fairy” and “woke” issues in the Justice Department.
Fianna Fáil figures have also said publicly in recent days that after 14 years of four Fine Gael justice ministers, it is time for a “new energy” in the department.
The Taoiseach also defended a reported dinner Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe had with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary in 2022.
He also admitted he was overly “pedantic” about comments he made on the 10-way leaders’ debate on RTE that he did not sign the National Children’s Hospital contract.
“I think I was unnecessarily pedantic and semantic,” Mr Harris said “I mean, the buck stops with me in relation to the National Children’s Hospital.
“The point I was trying to make is this: there’s sometimes comments that are a little flippant, like one person signed off on the contract. The point I’m making is these things go through a very deliberate process.”
Candidates across 43 constituencies continue to canvass as they approach the third and final week of the election campaign.
Housing and the cost of living appear to be dominant issues for the public, with parties criticising each other’s policies and spending plans.
On Tuesday, after the Sinn Féin manifesto launch, Fine Gael accused the party of “robbing the country’s piggy bank”.
When asked on Thursday whether Fine Gael is offering to spend like there is no tomorrow, Mr Harris said: “My party is making fewer commitments in relation to additional current spending than all other major parties – statement of fact.
“Second point is we’re doing this whilst also setting aside money for the future. So my party is committing to putting aside future funds – basically the state’s piggy bank – of €50 billion over the lifetime of the next government.
“That’s exactly the buffer to make sure my children never experienced the austerity that our generation did.
“I believe my party, Fine Gael, has a balanced approach to this, yes increasing public spending, only doing it in line with the Department of Finance, but also setting aside money for any future economic shocks we or the EU might experience.”
Fine Gael has proposed expanding the Help to Buy scheme from offering €30,000 to €40,000; increasing the state pension to €350; abolishing means-testing for the carer’s allowance, and setting up an Acorn savings account for every child with €1,000 at an interest rate of four per cent.
Mr Harris said there are “some similarities” between his Acorn scheme pledge and the Special Saving Incentive Accounts Module of the Celtic Tiger era – which saw a five-year savings scheme in which the Exchequer topped up.
“I think it’s a very intelligent thing to do from an economic point of view, because actually what it’s doing is not just supporting our children when they reach adulthood in terms of costs they may face, it’s also helping create that saving culture and making sure there’s a saving fund that effectively spend to the economy in a number of years’ time.”
Mr Harris also said there is a need to implement the five per cent budget spending limit, and he said Fine Gael has committed to about €27 billion less than Sinn Féin’s plan.
“You can look at the spending plans of all the parties,” he said. “My party is the only party keeping within the five per cent spending rule.”
Asked whether he is complacent about the dangers of the incoming Donald Trump presidency in the US, he said: “No, I’m not.”
“As Taoiseach of this country, our economy is in good stead. We are ready for any shocks that may come.
“But we do need a real focus on competitiveness, we need a real focus on working intensively at EU level, and we’ve got to, got to, got to continue to put aside additional resources when we have them to buffer us from shocks.”
