'Simon Harris is going to be kicking himself for making a mess of it all'

The old cliché says a week is a long time in politics. Well the next three days until polling day on Friday will feel like an eternity to the three main party leaders and especially our young Taoiseach, Simon Harris.

To say that our current Premier has had a nightmare campaign would be the under-statement of the year. He and his team of advisors have absolutely bottled it riddled by pure arrogance and a sense of entitlement .

His polling numbers have dropped from a lead of 25 points down to 19, a drop of six according to yesterday's Irish Times and Ipsos opinion poll. The news for Simon Harris in the weekend Sunday Independent poll was just as bad, down four points.

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The bombshell news tells us that the most boring election of all time is about to become interesting.

It means Harris, Micheal Martin and Mary Lou McDonald go into tonight's RTE Prime Time election TV debate more or less on level pegging at 19 to 20pc with voters and all to play for.

This election was 37 year old Simon Harris' to lose, such was his apparent popularity. But his campaign got off on the wrong foot from the getgo first off all by leaking and slagging off his Fianna Fail Government colleague Martin about his age and that he was too old to be Taoiseach.

Yet the whole country can see with their own eyes that Micheal is a fit, sprightly and experienced 64 year old politician who has been around the block many times and did a bloody good job leading the nation through and out of the dark days of Covid.

He mightn't be everyone's cup of tea, but he is a safe pair of hands especially in the middle of a national crisis while Harris on the other hand is totally unproven after several months in the highest job in the land.

Micheal Martin is also no Joe Biden or Donald Trump from an age point of view and almost two decades younger than either man.

Then there was the most ridiculous briefing that Harris wasn't prepared to be a " rotating" Taoiseach again if he won more seats than his Fianna Fail Government rival.

The attitude of the powers that be in Fine Gael stank to the high heavens and showed that they had as much in common with the ordinary people as the man on the moon.

It reinforced the view that they are too long in office and out of touch with what most voters think.

Most voters understand if two parties with more or less the same number of seats share Government then they take turns at running the Taoiseach's office.

But it is Simon Harris' demeanour and lack of honest conviction that has riled voters. He has also come across as too fluffy, inexperienced and an individual of no substance.

You can't promise the sun, moon and stars on the election trail to everyone like he has and the people know it.

You also can't look down on people and ignore genuine voters like he did in Cork with a disability worker.

The shocking video has been seen by 1.8 million people and counting and while Simon Harris has apologised for his behaviour, the incident has done him enormous damage and may yet prove to be the most defining moment of this campaign.

He can rightly claim to have been tired and had an off day but that is not how the voters of this country expect their Taoiseach to behave. They expect him or her to smile and listen to them - not fob them off.

Charlie Haughey, Bertie Ahern, and Micheal Martin were brilliant at meeting and greeting the people, Simon Harris on the other hand has a lot to learn.

The young Taoiseach will have a chance to redeem himself in the TV debate tonight.

He will need to improve greatly on his appearance last week which was a disaster when he refused to admit responsibility for signing off on the National Children Hospital as Minister for Health.

The whole project has been a nightmare from a financial point of view and the final bill will cost taxpayers between 2 to 3 billion euros which is outrageous. I accept we can't blame Harris for the cost overruns and he didn't draw up the original contract.

The Harris wobble has now opened the door for Sinn Fein and Mary Lou McDonald to have a better than expected election as I predicted a few weeks ago.

They won't however have anywhere near enough seats to form a Government unless they can persuade Fianna Fail to do a un-turn and go into office with them.

As things stand Michael Martin is likely to be the next Taoiseach and Fianna Fail the biggest single party but who knows with a volatile electorate with no real party allegiance that could all change again by Friday.

If the polls are right there will be many surprises and plenty of new faces elected to Leinster House.

The Independents are going to have a great day and one way or the other will have a big say in who forms the next Government because any two out of the three parties together won't have the numbers on their own.

I expect the negotiations to form the next Government to last a few months and run on after Christmas and into the Spring. But Simon Harris will be kicking himself for making a mess of it all.

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