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Harris says his position on general election timing unchanged

Simon Harris said the Government needs to finish its work
Simon Harris said the Government needs to finish its work

The Taoiseach has said his position has not changed in response to questions on the timing of the next general election.

Speaking after he canvassed with Fine Gael ministers and general election candidates in St Stephen's Green in Dublin this morning, Simon Harris said he wants the Government to finish its work.

He added that the Budget, which is the final budget of this Government, is not yet law.

Mr Harris said there is still a lot of work to do to make sure that people get the benefits put in place in yesterday's Budget.

"Any conversations I have about the timing of the election ... will happen with (party) leaders and won't happen through the media. I think that would be disrespectful and unhelpful.

"People were going to say its a pre-election budget because, statement of fact it is a pre-election budget in the sense that it is the last before the general election," Mr Harris said.

February 'ideal time' for election - Martin

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, repeated his view that the "ideal time" for a general election was in February.

Speaking to reporters at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Defence post-budget briefing, Mr Martin said he remains of the view that Ireland should "get into the habit" of governments lasting the full, five year term.

Asked when the general election will be, the Tánaiste said: "I get asked this question every day now on an hourly basis, and my answer is the same, which is people want us to focus on the issues.

"We have a finance bill to get through, we have a social protection bill to get through, gambling bill, mental health bill, I'd like to get them through before the election, and the planning bill shortly."

He added: "My view is the ideal time is February, that still is my view. We have to have an election before March, there's no ideal time in winter, that's my view.

"I remember being a young student when we have three elections in 18 months, and it took a decade in the 1980s really for government to get a grip on things.

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"All that short-termism was very problematic for the country, so I like the idea [of going full term] and I did a confidence and supply deal [from 2016 to 2020, when the Government did not go full term], and everything."

"I believe when elections happen we should go the full distance, we should get into that habit of going the full distance, because that gives a degree of capacity around decision making for the medium term and the longer term, and reduces short term ism policy decision making," he said.

Opposition parties critical of Budget 2025

Opposition parties have accused the coalition of missing out on a golden opportunity to deliver substantive change, by consistently choosing short-term measures.

Budget 2025 was delivered by Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.

Mr Chambers outlined details of the Budget before Leinster House was gripped with yet another round of general election speculation.

Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe (R) outlined details of the Budget before Leinster House

The State's independent budgetary watchdog, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, has warned that Budget 2025 repeats Ireland’s past mistakes of putting billions into the economy when it is at full employment.

Opposition parties were critical of the Budget.

They said it lacked a strategic vision which meant the financial resources would be spread too thinly.

However, coalition and Opposition politicians did agree that, in the aftermath of Budget 2025, a general election was more likely to occur in November than February.

Additional reporting Paul Cunningham, Fiachra Ó Cionnaith