Simon Harris is facing calls to introduce a mini-budget from Independent TDs ahead of meetings with non-aligned Deputies this week.
Mr Harris, who is expected to be voted taoiseach next Tuesday, is this week holding talks with Independent TDs who have tended to support the Government ahead of the vote. He is not expected to require their support to be elected taoiseach, but Independent TDs have bolstered the Government’s thin on-paper majority in confidence votes in recent months, as well as voting to elect the Coalition’s candidate for taoiseach.
On Wednesday Independent Roscommon-Galway TD Denis Naughten indicated he would be voting for Mr Harris.
Independent TD for Kildare South Cathal Berry, who voted for both Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar as taoiseach in 2020 and 2022, said a mini-budget before the Dáil rises for its summer break was “vital”, and that he wanted to see extra measures for small businesses and farmers.
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“A mini-budget would be done very, very quickly,” he said, arguing that if new policies were only introduced in the autumn it would be towards the end of the year before small businesses began to feel them. “They can’t wait that long,” said Mr Berry, who will meet Mr Harris on Thursday.
He also predicted that further increases to excise on motor fuels planned for August would not go ahead. “I don’t see why they’re necessary, we should be encouraging (people) to go to work, not punishing them.”
Mr Harris has already indicated that the meetings with the Independent TDs will not be “transactional”.
Matt Shanahan, the Independent TD for Waterford, also said he would want to discuss a mini-budget, which he said would be “badly needed” by small businesses.
A Cabinet shake-up is on the cards to fill seats left open by Mr Harris’ elevation and Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney’s decision not to seek reappointment to Cabinet. Several Junior Ministers are seen as in line for promotion, with speculation focusing on Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Peter Burke, Neale Richmond and Patrick O’Donovan.
One Minister, speaking privately, suggested that with Mr Coveney’s decision, Mr Harris now had sufficient latitude to overhaul the Cabinet without demoting anyone else from Fine Gael’s Cabinet membership.
On Wednesday it emerged that Mr Harris has poached a key adviser to Coalition partners in the Green Party to come on board as part of his backroom team.
Jack O’Donnell, who had been working as an adviser to Green Party Super-Junior Minister Pippa Hackett, is to join the expanding team being lined up to work with Mr Harris.
Mr O’Donnell is a former special adviser to Eoghan Murphy during the latter’s time in the department of housing, and previously worked in Government Buildings with Enda Kenny when he was taoiseach. He will join a cadre of advisers including Chris Donoghue, who until recently worked with Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney, but who is now set to be appointed as government press secretary.
It is expected that former Irish Times journalist Sarah Bardon and Mr Harris’ former adviser in the Department of Health, Joanne Lonergan, will be the most senior advisers to the Wicklow TD. Ms Bardon has worked with Mr Harris since 2018, while Ms Lonergan left politics to work in consultancy for a period but is expected to rejoin the team.
Irish Examiner journalist Ciara Phelan is to join as deputy government press secretary, while two members of Mr Varadkar’s staff, Clare Mungovan and Matt Lynch, are expected to remain. Another former adviser to Mr Harris, Majella Fitzpatrick, is tipped to rejoin him.
Mr Harris is also said to be eyeing an economic adviser, likely to operate on a part-time basis similar to the role filled by Prof Alan Ahearne in the Tánaiste’s office. That role may not be filled until after he is elected Taoiseach and nominates his Cabinet.
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