Taoiseach Simon Harris not aware if staff asked RTE to remove viral video clip

Taoiseach Simon Harris has insisted he is not aware that any member of his team tried to get RTE to take down a viral social media clip of a much-criticised encounter with a disability care worker.

The Fine Gael leader was asked about the controversy in the first question posed during the second and final TV leaders’ debate of Ireland’s General Election campaign.

Mr Harris apologised over the weekend for his handling of the discussion with Charlotte Fallon while canvassing in Kanturk in Co Cork on Friday evening.

READ MORE - McDonald clashes with Harris and Martin during final leaders' debate

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The Taoiseach was accused of dismissing concerns that Ms Fallon raised about Government support for the disability sector during the exchange filmed by RTE in a supermarket.

Mr Harris rang Ms Fallon on Saturday and said he unreservedly apologised for the way he treated her, however focus has since shifted to Fine Gael’s interactions with the national broadcaster about the social media video.

At the outset of Tuesday’s TV debate, co-host Miriam O’Callaghan directly asked the Fine Gael leader whether a member of his party contacted RTE to ask for the clip to be taken down.

“I have no knowledge of that whatsoever, because this clip was entirely appropriate,” said Mr Harris.

“It was a very important moment on the campaign.

“And RTE and indeed many media outlets have been with me throughout the campaign, covering many interactions that I’ve had with many, many people right across this country.”

The Taoiseach said the approach by his team member was part of the “normal contact that happens between party politics and broadcasters on a daily basis”.

Mr Harris’s partner-in-government in the last coalition, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, said he was not aware of the approach to RTE by Fine Gael.

“I didn’t realise this had happened,” he said.

“I think Simon has given his explanation to it. I’m not sure it’s as normal or as usual. I just get on with it every day. But, again, I think, you know, I’m not au fait with the details behind all of this, or the background to it.

“The video didn’t come down, and it was seen by many, many people.

“And I think it illustrates that out there, there are a lot of people suffering in our society.

“Notwithstanding the progress we’ve made as a country, a lot of people are facing a lot of individual challenges, and our job as public representatives and as leaders in travelling the country is to listen to people, hear their cases, to understand the challenges that they are going through in their lives.

“And when we go about in election campaigns, we have to open up ourselves to criticism and to people calling us to account.”

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald had earlier in the day described reports of the Fine Gael approach to RTE as “chilling”.

However, at the start of the debate, she was asked about a media-focused issue related to her own party, namely the controversial manifesto proposal for an independent expert review of RTE’s objectivity in its coverage of the war in Gaza and other international conflicts.

Mr Harris previously branded the proposal a “dog whistle to conspiracy theorists” while Mr Martin said it was a “dangerous departure”.

Ms McDonald defended the idea during the RTE Prime Time debate on Tuesday.

“Politics and politicians should not try to influence editorial decisions or try and have clips taken down because they are inconvenient to them,” she said.

“There has to be distance, there has to be objectivity. But I would say I am struck by the very defensive reaction from some to this (the review proposal).

“The BBC, for example, a peer review looked at their coverage on migration. Politicians didn’t put their hands on it, and rightly so.

“I think in a world where we have to rely on quality information, especially from the national broadcaster, which is in receipt of very substantial public funding, that has to be the gold standard of reliability. I think peer reviews like that are healthy.”

It comes as Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said on Tuesday before the debate that "Micheál Martin is absolutely determined to put Fine Gael back in government”.

“I can't fathom that,” she said.

“I think, by any measure, if you're actually listening to people out on the ground in the course of this campaign, people are telling everybody that they are struggling, that they are suffering, in many instances, that they are left behind.

“Some feel very betrayed by the government, particularly younger people.”

Clare Daly, an independent candidate in Dublin Central, stated on Tuesday during a press conference in the Clonliffe House pub that the “idea of a left alliance and Sinn Féin being involved in that alternative government is something that should definitely be explored”.

She said: “That’s very strongly the view we’re getting on the doorsteps, that people want a change.

“Sometimes change is presented as something to be feared. ‘Oh if we take that step, will it be worse off?’

“But many people are already in that place now, where they say, “Well, we can't be worse off’.”

Ms Daly also defended herself following criticism of her stance on the Russia-Ukraine war. She argued that her position on the war in “Ukraine and Palestine are identical” and she wants a “ceasefire and a negotiated settlement”. She also stated that Sinn Féin is now saying the same as its manifesto calls for a “coordinated and concerted effort” to “secure an end to the hostilities”.

She added: “I’m never called a Netanyahu puppet. I’m called a Putin puppet.

“I have voted for every single resolution to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to respect the territorial integrity of that country, and to argue for a negotiated settlement, which means the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia or their governments deciding.”

Elsewhere, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman stated that a “government propped up by Independent TDs could be a “recipe for absolute chaos”.

He warned of the consequences of having what he described as “right-wing independents” making up the government formation after Friday’s election.

Elsewhere, Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe was forced to do a U-turn on appearing on a television debate.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty accused Mr Donohoe of “chickening out” of the debate. Ms Donohoe’s spokeswoman initially did not refute suggestions he was not taking part in the debate.

She later said: “There was a mix-up, on our side, in terms of the scheduling of the debate, which has now been rectified. Minister Donohoe glad to be able to debate the economy on [Tuesday night’s] show.

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