Simon Harris says Michael O'Leary will have no further part in election campaign after teacher comment

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said that the incident showed Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s differing “ethos”.

By: irishmirror.ie

Nov 11 2024
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Simon Harris says Michael O'Le

Taoiseach Simon Harris has insisted that Ryanair Chief Michael O’Leary will have no further involvement in Fine Gael’s election campaign as he criticised his “crass” comments about teachers.

Mr O’Leary doubled down on the remarks he made at the Fine Gael candidate Peter Burke’s campaign launch on Saturday where he told the crowd he would not hire teachers to “get things done”.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said that the incident showed Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s differing “ethos”.

Mr O’Leary’s comments dominated Fine Gael’s housing policy launch on Monday morning, as the Taoiseach was faced with repeated questions about not only the comments but the laughter from those who were present at Mr Burke’s launch.

Mr Harris said: “The comments made were crass. They were ill-informed. I'm pretty annoyed about it. Teachers are the people that we can trust with our precious possessions, our children.

“There are not many people who can stand up in front of a classroom for five seconds and last, let alone for the full day, for the full week, the full month.

“It is a tough job. It's an impactful job and I have nothing but respect for teachers.”

It was put to Mr Harris that the comments were cheered and laughed at by Fine Gael members at the event.

However, the Taoiseach argued that the event was “open to the public” and “advertised in local media”.

He added that whether they were “cheered by anybody or not, they were inappropriate”.

He also denied that Mr O’Leary was “Fine Gael’s Elon Musk”.

“He is not my anything, quite frankly,” he continued.

“He's a man who runs a very successful business. He's done well in that space. But what he isn't is a member of Fine Gael.”

Mr Harris defended Mr O’Leary being at the launch of the outgoing Enterprise Minister’s campaign, saying that we live in a democracy and denied that this constituted a conflict of interest.

He also said the Ryanair boss will not appear at any more Fine Gael events throughout the general election campaign.

He added: “His views don't reflect my position or the position of my party at all.

“I don't believe… I believe people will vote in this election on the basis of issues. Things happen during campaigns that can be a great source of annoyance.”

Asked if Mr O’Leary should apologise for the comments, Mr Harris stated he was “around long enough to know Michael O’Leary tends not to apologise”.

At the Fianna Fáil manifesto launch, Micheál Martin said that he believed candidates should launch their own campaigns.

He told the Irish Mirror it showed differing “ethos” between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“The cheering was not good, in my view. It illustrates certain characteristics, perhaps on the other party’s [Fine Gael’s] orientation,” he said.

“Our orientation has always been on education, in particular, to celebrate the role of teachers.

“That’s been a long-standing culture thing in Ireland going back over a century.

“It perhaps speaks to fundamental differences between the ethos of parties when they see something like that happening. That would not occur in our party.”

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