‘Some people will be disappointed’
Harris refuses to say if McEntee will remain as Justice Minister
INCOMING Taoiseach Harris has refused to say whether Helen McEntee will remain as Justice Minister under a Cabinet reshuffle due next week when he’s elected Taoiseach on Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of the Fine Gael Ard Fheis today, Mr Harris also said that he believes there is ‘merit’ in pay caps for secretary generals of Government departments.
It follows confirmation that controversial secretary general in the Department of Health, Robert Watt, is due to see his salary rise to €326,000 by 2026, as the new public sector pay deal will see his pay rise by 9.25% in the next two years.
Fianna Fáil deputy John McGuinness, chair of the Oireachtas finance and public expenditure committees, told the Irish Daily Mail yesterday that the series of pay rises to Mr Watt is now due is ‘quite scandalous’, after Mr Watt received a rise of €81,000 to take over that position three years ago.
Mr Harris said: ‘I don’t want to personalise it to any one individual. Obviously, there was a public sector pay agreement and that does see all people right across the public service benefit.
‘In relation to the broader issue of sec-gen pay and the likes, I know this is an area we will give consideration to in the context of how sec-gens are appointed.’
He added that the idea of pay caps are ‘something that merits consideration in the future’.
Mr Harris insisted that his party was ‘fighting fit’ but said they needed to turn around their ‘sense of self belief and energy’.
He added: ‘What this Ard Fheis is about is the party lifting its head and believing in itself because this is a party that has a major role to play.’
Mr Harris, who will vacate his own role as Minister for Further and Higher Education, refused to say whether Ms McEntee, who survived a confidence motion in December, will stay in Cabinet. It follows the exit of Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, who will be stepping aside from Cabinet to allow Mr Harris to build a ‘new look Fine Gael’, while Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has now become deputy leader of the party.
He said he wanted to try bring a ‘diversity of viewpoints into Cabinet’.
Mr Harris said: ‘Lots of people have different talents, different strengths. I think we are at our best as a party when we try to harness all of those differences.
‘You just never know what Irish politics can bring. There will be people who are rightly delighted next week and there’ll be people who feel a sense of personal disappointment.’
Despite the upheaval within his party, he has pledged to bring stability to the Coalition Government with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party with ‘mature, responsible leadership’.
He said: ‘Under my leadership, you won’t be turning on the telly to see the leader of Fine Gael about to announce an election.’
‘This Government intends to go to full term.’
He also said people can expect an election ‘around next March’.
Mr Harris has been criticised by Sinn Féin for failing to address the housing crisis in his recent speech in Athlone at a Fine Gael selection convention when he was ratified as party leader.
Mr Harris responded: ‘If talking about housing were to fix it, we’d have an oversupply of housing in this country.’
‘I don’t fear Sinn Féin, I don’t fear debating them, I’m looking forward to it, and I welcome their new-found interest in me.’
Mr Harris has said he is clear about ‘aspiring towards a united Ireland’ but he said it is not where his priority lies right now. However, he said: ‘I don’t think shouting and roaring about a united Ireland is how you bring one about.
‘You don’t unite territories by, kind of, diktat or border poll – you unite people by hearts and minds, by getting to know each other.’
Ahead of a North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh next week, he said he did not want to say anything provocative.
He said: ‘I am somebody who would like to see a United Ireland, that is a legitimate political aspiration for me to hold.
‘But right now I think the priority has to be on embedding the institutions in the North, supporting the Northern Ireland Executive, using the Shared Island Fund to bring about real practical areas of co-operation.’
Speaking in Salthill in Galway yesterday with local councillor Clodagh Higgins and MEP Maria Walsh, Mr Harris said to small businesses: ‘We have your back.’
‘It’s been a surreal couple of weeks, it’s beginning to sink in now. I know the enormity of the challenge we have to face.
‘Yes, multinational jobs are so important and we’re so proud of them, but we want to be on the side of small businesses and on the side of communities.’
As Galway has a large Gaeltacht, Mr Harris was asked about his fluency and admitted that he doesn’t have much Irish.
But he said he intends to take Irish language classes.
‘Lots of people have different talents’