Harris home protests totally unacceptable

IT would be fair to describe Health Minister Simon Harris as ‘embattled’. He is politically accountable, if not personally responsible, for the massive overspend on the new National Children’s Hospital.

And he has been under extra scrutiny since it was revealed he knew about the massive overspending – at that stage to the tune of at least €191million – at the hospital as far back as August, but didn’t bring it to the attention of his Cabinet colleagues until November.

The Opposition has been heaping on the pressure, with Sinn Féin calling for his resignation and Fianna Fáil insisting that he apologise to the Dáil for keeping information about over-runs from TDs for months.

And this is not the only front on which Mr Harris finds himself fighting. The pressure of the nursing strike is growing, with neither side showing any great willingness to give ground; the greatest breakthrough at the Labour Court yesterday was both sides agreeing to move to a different room due to the cold.

Tens of thousands of patients have already been discommoded by having their appointments cancelled. And the stakes are incredibly high, with the threat of another massive round of public pay demands should the minister accede to the nurses’ demands, but also the real danger to patient safety should the disruptions continue.

So there are many people who would condemn Mr Harris. And in this democracy, it is right that they are able to do so freely and openly.

Where protesters overstep the mark, however, is when they appear at a politician’s family home while his wife and child are inside. A group of 20 self-styled ‘antiausterity’ protesters arrived outside Mr Harris’s Wicklow home yesterday.

Gardaí arrived at the scene and the protesters moved on. However, this type of direct protest at a private residence is completely wrong and was widely condemned. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was correct when he said: ‘This is completely and utterly unacceptable. Everyone is entitled to peace and security with their family in their own home.’

No doubt the pressure will be back on Mr Harris this morning. But he can perhaps take some comfort from the widespread condemnation of this inappropriate protest.

As Mary Robinson once said when finding herself supported by erstwhile opponent Michael McDowell, ‘With enemies like that, who needs friends?’.