Did anyone see Simon Harris's treatment of the carer who approached him in Co. Cork today? Despicable, condescending behaviour.

[Imperiallanger]

I'll try link. It's on RTEs Facebook page & the comments match his behaviour. The poor woman was visibly upset.

https://www.rte.ie/news/post/104564612/

Hopefully this works, there is a number of stories in the link but the incident happened in Kanturk, Co. Cork which is in the heading of the story. The video is shocking, the poor woman.. He was so passive aggressive & condescending.

Ya I did. I don’t think he handled the interaction with that woman very well.
But the woman didn’t either, she wasn’t very nice to him from the beginning. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

I can see both sides of the argument….
she’s tired, worn down and feeling unheard, life is hard no doubt.
Then Simon was out campaigning all day, he was tired and having someone come at him that highly strung is hard to take so he just cut it short to not give in to her emotions.

He has been quite good at apologising to her this morning over the phone, he also put out a video explaining himself and took accountability. Which is fair enough.

Personally I think the woman is now playing victim and not taking any accountability for how she approached him.

I am still voting Fine Gael and Fine Fail next week. Both of these were just being human. No one is perfect.

Highly strung? Seriously? Would you describe a man that way? What a horrible condescending way to describe her.
Election time is probably the only time most people actually get a chance to voice their concerns to politicians. Simon being tired after a day of campaigning is nothing in comparison to what carers endure 24/7/365.

Well how would you describe how she behaved?
polite? Respectable towards Simon? Kind? Patient?

She was upset - and I'm also sure it could be pretty overwhelming to voice your feelings on an emotional subject such as disability to the leader of the country.

He on the other hand is PR and media trained. He should know how to handle tricky and confrontational conversations on emotive subjects without looking so impatient and dismissive.

He was rude and arrogant. There are so many people who have been let down by politicians like Simon Harris. The children who are desperately waiting for their scoliosis operations yet that has been ignored. Simon Harris himself made a promise years ago to sort it out and he and his health minister have allowed 19 million euro allocated for that to disappear. There is no accountability. So few properties available for rent and so many families desperate for accommodation.
No doubt some people have done very well under FF & FG. . I think some largely don't care anymore as long as they themselves are alright. They don't have to worry about the price of utilities which is amongst the highest in Europe. The price of petrol and diesel the same.
Thousands lying on hospital trollies every week both under his tenure as Minister for Health & Taouseach. As for the money spent on the Children's Hospital.....

It should finish his chances, but it won't.

Are you for real? Look at the start of the video, he breezed passed her "lovely to meet you" didn't even glance at her.. She said carers were forgotten about to which he replied "no you weren't" completely dismissing her feelings & that of thousands of carers accross the country. I thought the woman did amazingy well considering how upset she was.

He rang her as the video has gone viral worldwide. If that hadn't been filmed he wouldn't give a fiddlers fuck... It's called damage limitation. Too little too late!

She owes Simon fuck absolutely all. What has he done for her her.
Noone owes politicans anything. They work for us remember & we reward them for their service through our votes (& considerable amounts of taxpayers money!)
Simon doesn't know his place & forget who he works for. Fair play to that strong woman for reminding him.

Simon was rude, but she didn’t behave very well either.
He doesn’t need to stop and talk to every single person, he can just pass someone and say hello. Honestly there is little sense forthcoming here.
If I was at work and someone came at me like that, I wouldn’t give them much credence either, nobody likes any conversation to open like it did or to be winged at and blamed for all their problems.

as for the hospital… like change the record.

Everyone problem every person has is not Simon Harris’s fault. He deserves respect, as does that woman. They both behaved badly. That’s not to belittle the plight of carers, they deserve the world without any argument.

we don’t own anyone, no matter their job. That’s a horrible entitlement to feel.

We vote for politicians, we work to pay their wages through our taxpayers money. They are employed by the public so should act accordingly. Simon has obviously forgotten this. How many politicians say "I will work so hard for you & the constituency" because we employed them. The way Simon spoke to that woman is not the way an employee of this state should speak to it's employer.

Then doctors, nurses, civil servants are the same, can you speak to them disrespectfully too because you’re a tax payer?
We live in a democracy. Having lived in different countries and experienced their carnage, honestly, comparatively, Ireland’s political system is a breath of fresh air.

based on Mondays debate, the other parties just winged whined and moaned, but with no really workable solutions. Fine Gael and Fine Fail are about as good as it gets, whether we like to admit it or not.

Get a grip. Clutching at straws there. We do not vote & elect civilian & public servants to work for us!!!!
We vote for politicians!! We vote & elect them based on their manifestos & what they pledge to do for citizens. We elect them & pay their wages. They work for the citizens of the state which is us.

But that is not ammo to treat them disrespectfully
We don’t own them. That’s so so so weird to think like that. Honestly, it’s just so bizarre.

that woman had a marvellous opportunity to speak up for carers last night, had she gone about it more respectfully and with more control of her emotions. If she had, he probably wouldn’t have fobbed her off.
As I said, If someone came at me like that in work, on a night out, or on the street, I wouldn’t give them my time. why would I? I deserve better than to be winged at.

She was polite, and obviously nervous of the cameras, until he completely denied what she was saying was true. At that point she became upset.
Simon was the one in a position of power, and the onus was on him to be kind and patient. He was arrogant in how he treated her and she didn't deserve it.
What was even worse was how his entourage just followed him as he walked away, not a shred of sympathy for this woman who was trying to speak on behalf of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
I am glad he acknowledged that his behaviour was not appropriate for a public representative, but I think if it hadn't gone viral then he might not have been as forthcoming in his apology.
Simon Harris has often spoken about how he left college to enter politics, inspired by his brother who has autism, with the desire to make a difference to the lives of the very people he treated with contempt in that video.

I think instead of dismissing her when she said there was nothing for us in the budget, was to explain what was in the budget and what the government has done to help.

He dismissed her because she was wearing a fleece, with a bottle of ketchup and a little emotional. He simply couldn't be bothered.

The bigger picture is that like every country, Ireland functions because of the unpaid/paid work women do. Carers look after the elderly, the disabled and children.

Caring is often thankless and relentless and she wanted to know why that hard work was unacknowledged. I can answer for him: it's women's work and it doesn't count.

It's not someone on the street though it's basically his employer . Politicans are hired to work through elections & votes paid for by tax payers money so he has absolutely no right to speak to that woman in the manner he did. She highlighted a very serious problem in which his government has done nothing for carers & he blatently lied to her face & said he did.
If I spine to my employers in that manner & told them I did a job that I didn't I would be given my p45. Big mistake for Simon & Fine Gael the week before the elections.
I hope every single person remembers this incident on Friday. Disgraceful carry on from our Taoiseach. His performance last Monday on the debate was also very poor.

Would he have apologised if that video hadn't gone viral & if hadn't recieved global backlash?

He's so bad at dealing with the public it's unbelievable. He's like an alien.

The mask is slipping big time. I thought this exchange was desperate from Harris. Dismissive, rude and condescending.

https://gript.ie/simon-harris-charlotte-fallon-fine-gael/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGvFmVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTkwWrTWIB8TDUkAs9o1cDo1XVY-7Cb5vC78pFJyMJcsIlWd6yNqlNS9gaemXsheCjV6uJwNf-WQkTb0dA&sfnsn=wa

I like Gripts account of his behaviour & I do agree it has the potential to throw up the election. What a spectacular own goal in front of RTE who shockingly shared.
Between Simon's beliefs in gender ideology & his contempt towards this woman he is no friend of females. I hope the majority don't give him or Fine Gael a single vote & the lot of them are wiped out from government.

Oh how Simon Harris's mask slipped in Katurk, Co. Cork. We saw the real Simon Harris in action.

I’ve heard it all now “Basically his employer”.
A totally bonkers statement.

He carried himself better than most of the party leaders. Michael Martin was the best, followed by Simon. Peader wouldn’t stop butting in, be was silly. As for Mary Lou, she’s a sensational fool. I can’t fathom who would vote for them now given the year they have had, the manifesto debacle and just… well her….

Well we are their employers! They knock on our doors, we interview them, they promise what work they will do for us, we then choose the best candidates based on their presentation & debates about why they should get the job. We them vote ( I like to think of as a massive panel) & the politicans with the most votes get the job to work for us the electorate. We then pay them very well with our taxpayers money..
Then if they are not going their job as this woman quite rightly knew Simon & his government had not worked hard enough for carers we get to fire them on Friday by not voting for them.. Then we get to choose again who we want working for us based on their past performances.
Politicans work for state citizens, we elect them & pay for them. It's really not rocket science.
Simon Harris works for that woman, he didn't do his job & she was unhappy. She had every single right to hold him to account, she like the rest of us pay his wages through our tax.

What a massive fuck up for Fine Gael. I'm delighted & for it to come from the head honcho himself. The week before an election it will cost Fine Gael dearly & rightly so! No one in their right minds would vote for FG after the way he treated that woman & also due to their firm belief in Gender Ideology & the pornographic SPHE programme they have implemented. Vote them out, hope lots of FG get the boot on Fri after Harris's shocking contempt towards a visibly distressed woman.
I would be fired if I reacted to my boss like he did to that taxpayer. I hope he gets his marching orders too on Friday.

😂😂😂😂

Why did you make two separate threads on this @Imperiallanger?

On the other thread you’re determined to promote Aontú at all costs so I’m afraid I don’t fully trust your motivation in starting these threads (and I’m a carer for what it’s worth).

@Anothermathstest oh I didn’t realise. Please share the other thread here, I could do with a good laugh. OP has some very funny opinions.