Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to express confidence in the Tánaiste. I am genuinely worried about the direction of political discourse in our country. I am worried that we now live in a world and in a country where some strive to see those with political differences as enemies rather than decent people with opposing views. I am worried that there is a real effort under way to have us live in a country where one cannot make a mistake without the off-with-their-heads brigade seeking a political execution. This is not who we are or who we must become. We are better than that.

Sadly, the parties that apply harsh judgment to others often refuse to apply it to themselves. The Tánaiste made a mistake. He accounted to this House for it, apologised and explained his rationale. For some in this House, led by Sinn Féin, that will never be enough. They have decided to measure political effectiveness, not in terms of legislation passed, bipartisan work under way or policy proposals to tackle major societal issues, but rather in decibel levels, units of anger and soundbites of division. A good day at the office for Sinn Féin is one on which it has sown the seeds of mistrust and misinformation about a political opponent and amplified it online, often with the help of faceless trolls. For that party to succeed, it believes others must fail. This week we saw Sinn Féin engage in the grubby politics of "let them deny it". I have worked with many good, decent and sincere people from across the political spectrum in this House. This is a stunt. It is simply another attempt to divide.

Leo Varadkar is a committed, energetic, smart and sincere leader. I have seen his judgment at first hand during the Covid-19 pandemic and his leadership in trying to keep us all safe as we grappled with a deadly virus. We would not have a new general practice agreement were it not for his leadership. He set it is an absolute priority on becoming Taoiseach. He brought Departments together around the table, banged heads, set objectives, timelines and funding streams and he got it done.

When the Tánaiste made a mistake, he apologised. Have others in this House ever made a mistake? Perhaps they attended a public gathering in Northern Ireland in breach of public health guidelines. Maybe they staged what was effectively a political rally in a graveyard in the midst of severe restrictions when people could not go to the funerals of close relatives, despite the fact that the deceased was not even being buried in the cemetery in question. Perhaps someone was invited to a key briefing on Covid-19 with our top medical experts but was too busy, left early and then claimed not to have been fully briefed on the pandemic. Perhaps they came into this House and used parliamentary privilege to erroneously accuse people of financial wrongdoing and then, on being proven wrong, sadly forgot to apologise. Perhaps they jumped up and down in outrage in this Chamber and smeared the then Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, and when she was completely exonerated by Mr. Justice Charleton, they also forgot to apologise. Everybody makes mistakes and I am sure none of us wishes to be defined by them.

The smears and innuendo that are creeping into political life need to stop. There was an undertone in the last week. We and the Opposition all know it. Not one Member of this House called it out. It is wrong and it cannot go unchecked. It is time to focus on the issues. In the week that the people of the United States, thank God, rejected the politics of Trumpism, do not dare try to introduce it in this country.

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