Will He, Won't He? Kildare South TD Cathal Berry Reflects On Constituent Feedback Post-Harris Meeting

Friday, 5 April 2024 10:41

By Martin Osborne

Deputy Berry said the meeting was positive and frank.

Simon Harris has met with Independent TD for Kildare South, Cathal Berry, in a bid to secure his support.

Deputy Berry said the meeting was positive and frank.

He said high up on the agenda was "quick impact".

He said: "Yeah, we had a very constructive meeting yesterday, for sure - half an hour, one-to-one, a very, very positive meeting. I suppose what I'm doing now is just, I'm chatting to my constituents, chatting to my supporters, taking their counsel, taking their wisdom and taking their advice."

He said he has been hearing two arguments over the past 24 hours.

One train of thought is to "run down the clock" with people telling him "you've done enough, get ready for a general election. But the slightly larger majority are saying no, actually, Kildare, the county, hasn't had a senior minister for 20 years since Charlie McCreevy," he said.

He added: "And we're completely underrepresented at the cabinet table. And it's completely unfair for a quarter of a million people to be so underrepresented.Yes, we won't be able to get a senior cabinet minister, but can we work around it, and can we get influence to the cabinet?

"So that's one of the things that are coming back. And the second one is that, you know, that you were hired for a five year term is what they're saying. And don't be chickening out now, don't be backing out now. There's an expectation that you'll honour that commitment in full. Don't look for the shortcut. Don't look for the easy option. So, I've a lot of people to speak to over the next weekend, and we'll make a call then."

Listen back to the discussion on Kildare Today.