Labour’s Ged Nash takes aim at ‘TikTok Taoiseach’ Simon Harris, comparing him to a ‘yappy dog’

Labour party members gathered at The Helix in DCU on Saturday for the party’s 73rd National Conference, the second for their leader Ivana Bacik.

Speaking to the media at the conference, Deputy Nash took aim at Simon Harris, who is known to use social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to speak about government policy.

“We don’t believe that the TikTok Taoiseach will transform anything, he will merely tinker around the edges,” Mr Nash said.

“Evidently, this government, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, do not believe in the capacity and importance of the State to do important and transformational things,” he added.

The Labour TD said he didn’t believe Mr Harris as Taoiseach could transform government at the top.

“Frankly, I think Simon Harris will be a little bit like the yappy dog who is chasing the car. If he caught the car, he won't know what to do with it.

“I don’t believe that Minister Harris will have the kind of vision we need to transform the way government is done at the top.

“We’ve seen no evidence of that in terms of how he has operated as minister over the last few years”.

Mr Nash said since 2016, Fine Gael have been unable to turn Ireland’s economic success into the social progress seen in other countries, and said a general election was needed.

“I think Minister Harris – who has been at the government table since 2014 – has to take his fair share of responsibility for that.

“What we actually need now is an election to clear the decks and to transform the way this country is managed," he said.

While he said it was constitutional that the Dáil choose a Taoiseach mid-term, Mr Nash said there needed to be greater change beyond that of government leader.

“Rather than change the face at the top of this government, we need to change this government.

“And yes, while it is the constitutional position that a Taoiseach can be changed mid-term, we will now have three Taoisigh in the space of four years and three into four simply does not go,” he said.

Mr Nash was also critical of the process of selecting the next Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.

“Of course it would be a great honour for him when he is crowned, and I use that term advisedly, crowned Taoiseach because the situation exists that it's not even going to be the members of Fine Gael who will now choose the Taoiseach of our country effectively but only the members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party,” Mr Nash said.

Mr Nash also took aim at Sinn Féin, describing “the confusion that is reigning” within the party on immigration and climate.

“I think the shine is coming off. Sinn Féin are not a genuinely social democratic party,” Mr Nash said.

“It’s been my experience, especially in recent months, that younger people especially and those of the left that are genuinely of the left are taking a look at Sinn Féin and they don’t like what they see,” he added.