*Tánaiste Simon Harris (FG) flanked by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) and Joe Cooney TD (FG). Photograph: Kevin Donovan.
NEWLY appointed Minister for Finance, Simon Harris (FG) insisted he was suitably qualified for the role while voicing confidence Fianna Fáil would not end their coalition before he becomes Taoiseach for a second time and praising the impact of Joe Cooney (FG) in his near twelve months as a TD.
Paschal Donohoe’s (FG) decision to quit politics to take on the second most senior position in the World Bank, as Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer, left a vacancy as Minister for Finance which Harris duly snapped up.
Political analysts have questioned if the Fine Gael leader is the best man to succeed Donohoe who delivered ten Budgets in a row.
In Kilkishen on Friday evening, the Tánaiste was reminded by The Clare Echo that there is political commentary suggesting he is not fit for the role. “I think they are my political opponents and I look forward to taking them on in the next election. I am the only person who has ever served as Taoiseach of this country who has also then served as Minister for Finance, I have served in five other Government departments, I was the Taoiseach, I will be the Tánaiste again during the lifetime of this Government, I have chosen to go into this role because I think it is really important that we have a focus on the domestic economy. I loved being Minister for Foreign Affairs, I think it is such an important and meaningful role but as leader of Fine Gael it is really important to reconnect with the domestic agenda, there is lots of work we need to do, I want to use the fact that I’m Tánaiste and leader of Fine Gael and now also the Minister for Finance to drive delivery of the domestic agenda, I am looking forward to doing that over the next two years before becoming Taoiseach again,” he responded.
Harris was confident Fianna Fáil would not pull the plug on their coalition before he is due to become Taoiseach for a second time next November. “Our friends in Fianna Fáil, I have lots of friends these days, our friends in Fianna Fáil are very honourable to deal with, we have a good coalition government, the centre has held, we had an election literally less than a year ago where between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael almost a million people cast their vote, about 452,000 people gave their first preference to the Fine Gael party, we have gone through huge renewal”.
Joe Cooney’s (TD) performance as a TD in Clare is part of this renewal, the Tánaiste felt. “We have a new TD in Clare, Joe Cooney and Talk to Joe has a whole new meaning now, the other one retired but we have another one now the real Talk to Joe and he is doing a great job. We are going through a period of renewal, we have 23 new TDs in Fine Gael, we have 13 new Senators, we got more votes in the local election than any other party, more votes in the European election than any other party and managed to get back into Government. We do none of this for ourselves, we have an instruction from the people to get on with it and that is exactly what I intend to do, I was very sad to lose my friend Paschal Donohoe, he is a great friend and colleague of mine, he will always be a great colleague of mine, it was inevitable that he would move on at some point but politics is about moving forward, it is about the people’s business, people don’t like politicians talking about themselves or looking inwards so what I have said to the Cabinet, to my own Ministers and parliamentary party is we get on with it, we don’t lose momentum and drive forward”.
Within 72 hours of taking on the portfolio of Finance, he visited Kilkishen to switch on Christmas lights and Loughrea where he spoke with Teresa Roche of Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese. “There is a reason that in my first seventy two hours in this job that I wanted to be in rural communities both in East Galway and in Clare, that reason is when we talk about our economy it can sound like an abstract concept but it isn’t, it is made up of communities, Irish businesses, farmers, decent people going about their work every single day, I’m very proud of the rural funding we have invested in rural Ireland in recent years, setting up a Department of Rural Affairs being a really important scheme, I’m really proud of the fact we have given our local authorities more autonomy in terms of an ability to raise revenue, we will continue to support them and I will continue to work with the likes of Joe Cooney and our team in Clare on local matters”.
