In Kanturk, Co Cork, last Friday, Simon Harris, the leader of Fine Gael, met with disability care worker Charlotte Fallon and admitted that he did not live up to anyone’s expectations, much less his own, reports RTE.
Mr. Harris said that he was “deeply annoyed with myself” and that he “came up short” and let himself down.
The Fine Gael leader, who has a brother with autism, stated that he is “passionate” about disability services in an interview with RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne.
“I let myself down. I’m deeply annoyed with myself, and there’s no one more annoyed with me than me, and particularly on an issue that I feel incredibly passionate about. I mean, I have been that 16-year-old teenager who’s watched my own mother cry with frustration at being a mother of a child with special educational needs, I know what it’s like. I know what it’s like to be in a family where you feel isolated, where you feel let down, where you fight for services. And, on that issue, of all issues, I am so passionate about it,” reports RTE.
Mr. Harris said that he talked with Ms. Fallon the following day and that he would not “take away from the point” by offering an explanation for his behaviour.
He stated that he doesn’t believe it would be just for others to evaluate him based on a 40-second exchange on a Friday night.
“I think they’ll judge me on my record. They’ll judge me on what I’m going to do over the next five years, what I want to do, what Fine Gael wants to do, and the plans that we’ve put forward to, for once and for all, fix and rectify disability services. That is my burning desire. It’s something that I’ve prioritised since becoming Taoiseach,” reports RTE.
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