While canvassing in Cork on Friday, Simon Harris claimed he had apologised to a woman for not giving her enough time to talk about disability services and carers, reports Breaking News.
The leader of Taoiseach and Fine Gael said that after a video of their conversation on Friday went viral, he called Charlotte Fallon, a staff member of St. Joseph’s Foundation, on Saturday.
When Ms. Fallon informs the Taoiseach carers that they “were ignored” and that the Government has “done nothing for us,” RTÉ footage of Mr. Harris on a canvass in Kanturk is shared on the social networking platform X, reports Breaking News.
“The disability sector is a joke,” she says. “You’ve done nothing for us, our people are suffering. I’m very passionate about my job.”
Mr Harris responds by saying: “No, not at all,” and: “I’m very passionate about disability too,” reports Breaking News.
Ms Fallon says: “But there’s no mention of (them in the) Budget. You ignored them, you ignore the carers,” to which Mr Harris says: “That’s not true,” several times before shaking her hand and walking away.
While out canvassing at a Christmas market in Rathfarnham in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, Mr Harris said he was annoyed with himself and had called Ms Fallon to apologise.
“I called Charlotte this morning because she was absolutely owed an apology from me,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“We had a very good conversation, a very good conversation. I was very grateful to her for her time and her kindness. We spoke about a number of issues, we spoke about disability services, we spoke about the issue of pay parity for people in Section 39 organisations, and we also spoke about the issue of the means test for carers. I was grateful to have a chance to listen to Charlotte and also talk through with her some of my own plans and views and vision in relation to disability services. Really grateful for the conversation, learned a lot from it, and I’ve also said that I’d love to call in to where she works in Cork in the coming weeks, and she said I’d be very welcome. I’m annoyed with how I didn’t give that person, Charlotte, the time last night, she deserved that time,” reports Breaking News.
“I’ve been around the country and I’ve had hundreds of conversations some days, and I’ve learned a lot and always learned a lot from listening to people and I’m very sorry that didn’t happen last night,” reports Breaking News.
Asked what happened last night, he said: “There’s no excuse for it, I’m annoyed with myself in relation to it, disability is what makes me tick. It will always be my passion, and it’s Charlotte’s passion too, and I’m really grateful to her for giving me the opportunity to speak with her today,” reports Breaking News.
When asked if he believed that after watching the film, people would question his sincerity in trying to change the State’s disability services, Mr. Harris said, “I hope not. All I can do is really double my efforts to convince people of the facts that we have a plan for the future of this country, and very much at the heart of that plan is better services, better delivery and better empowerment of people with disabilities. I’ve tried to bring a focus to it since I’ve become Taoiseach, and it’s something that I will continue to work on intensively and even more intensively as a result of this,” reports Breaking News.
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