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.

But that’s just a criticism of the government. Have they said what they’d do to change things?
I only saw the main points of their manifesto reported so I’m not too sure, but I didn’t see better disability services mentioned as a big issue?

Linked is Aontú's manifesto on Healthcare

https://aontu.ie/health

I have to say. I'm so happy I got out if ireland. I wish I'd left sooner.

And that's not to do with the people there. It's that the country has become completely unlivable.

Im going home to visit my parents in Ireland next week and I'm dreading going back. There such a bad feeling in the place.

@Lallydallydune have deep pockets for your visit the cost of living has gone bananas. Hope you have a lovely time with your parents 😊

I completely missed this wtf , how & why could he support that man?

www.rte.ie/news/election-24/2024/1123/1482601-general-election-resignation/

I think we'll all agree about this

Finally💯 🙌

https://aontu.ie/government-must-abolish-carers-allowance-means-test-before-election-toibin

Just for those asking about Aontú's carers & disability pledges he you go.. Twice in the past 6 months Aontú have put forward proposals to end means testing for carers before this election. Info in link.

Thank you for the links @Imperiallanger. No time now but I’ll read them later on.

Is this abolishing means testing for carers their only proposal on disability? I didn't see anything else in their manifesto highlights but I will admit I have not examined the full manifesto closely.

It's on their website yes. The manifesto I linked from RTE & Gript are only key points.

From Peadar Toibín's X... Twice this year the government refused Aontú's motion to abolish means testing for carers.

He had actually walked away before that.
She was clearly upset by the fact that he was denying that her experiences were true and that he walked away as she was speaking to him. He did turn back and walked away the 2nd time when she said he wasn't a good man.
His earlier attempts at empathy looked forced, and him walking away from her when she was trying to let him know what Sector 39 workers were experiencing was just downright rude. He didn't have to promise her anything, but just acknowledging her experiences would have been enough. That sector is really struggling to keep staff as it's a really difficult area to work in and it has been an ongoing issue for years.

He wasn't denying that her experiences were true. She said that carers got no benefit in the budget and he was denying this point because they did get benefit in the budget. He walked away when she called him a bad man.

What are their other policies on disability? Surely stopping means testing for carers can't be the only one?

She wasn't talking about carers, she was talking about Sector 39 workers. They are paid less than HSE workers and the sector is under serious pressure to retain staff. What she was saying was true.
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/11/24/frustration-of-disability-worker-over-funding-for-services-widely-shared-across-the-sector/

Fair play to the Irish Times for publishing this. Charlotte was absolutely correct.

https://gript.ie/vile-scoliosis-children-failed-by-the-state-as-minister-admits-funds-for-surgeries-spent-more-broadly/

This is a good article about how scoliosis children have been failed so badly by this government. We need complete change.. Simon Harris said no child would be waiting more than 4 months for surgery, some are now into their fourth year of waiting.

Ah, that makes more sense. It’s a pity it’s hard to hear what she’s saying at the start.

He didn't clarify either by asking what sector she was in, he went straight onto the defensive as if the poor woman was Peadar Toibín in the Dáil pointing out all the failures on Fine Gaels watch ..

But the woman wasn't a strong opposition TD she was a carer who was at the end of her tether & finally got to opportunity to meet the man who did nothing for her sector.

I thought the woman was remarkably restrained given the plight of her sector.

Because of the difficulties in this sector retaining staff, it affects the services they provide. This directly affects their service users and places further pressure on their at home carers who are left trying to deal with the fallout. A lot of the service users regress due to the impact on services and their carers, often elderly parents, are left to cope.
The woman was speaking about the Sector 39 workers but was also advocating for the people they are trying to help.
There are posters on this thread defending Harris. But FG have been in power for 14 years, Harris was MoH for 4 years and has been Taoiseach for almost a year.
Yet he walked away from her as she was trying to highlight the problem before she said he wasn't a nice person.

@Imperiallanger can you tell me what Aontu are going to do for her sector?

You raised my interest so I have read through their manifesto and unfortunately it's worse than I expected. It mostly reads as a derogation of government but very few actual policies of how they could change things. Lots of talk about women though so you will be happy with that.

She does actually tell him that she is a Sector 39 worker at the start. It's hard to hear it with the background noise but he was directly in front of her so he would have heard it.

I'm actually not sure myself but I am sure what Aontú will offer them will be far superior to the contempt & ignorance offered to them by Fine Gael.
So happy to see Aontú gaining so much momentum & going up in the polls today.
Remember Aontú were the only party in the Dáil that fought tirelessly to ensure us women & mothers were not eradicated from the constitution.
Never forget that Simon Harris, Mary Lou & Michael Martin asked us women & mothers to go out (on International Women's Day) & vote to remove ourselves from the constitution.. To add insult to injury two days later was Mothers Day, thank God we were able to celebrate our survival in the constitution.
Peadar Toibín & Aontú worked tirelessly for the No/No win & were the only Dáil party on the winning No/No side. Not one political party stayed in Dublin Castle that night to congratulate Peadar & Aontú..

I thought that the Section 39 situation was supposed to be resolved by talks though. I wouldn’t have expected it to be addressed in the Budget ?

She was definitely advocating for disabled people too, and possibly for carers in general (I’m not certain now who she meant by carers). Fair play to her for that.

I do think the scapping of the Green paper shortly after Simon Harris became Taoiseach perhaps showed a commitment to disabled people, but it was only a start of course.
www.thejournal.ie/government-scrapping-disability-green-paper-6353319-Apr2024/