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WITH THE ELECTION widely expected to be called at the end of this week, Taoiseach Simon Harris looks to be in full campaign mode as he joins the 2 Johnnies on their podcast today.
In the latest episode of the hugely popular Spotify show, the 2 Johnnies were visited in studio by Taoiseach Simon Harris, with the trio discussing the housing crisis, the high level of young people emigrating to Australia and immigration levels in Ireland.
Harris is widely expected to visit Áras an Uachtaráin this Thursday to dissolve the Dáil and kick-start a 3-week general election campaign, with voters expected to go to the polls on Friday 29 November.
Although the firing gun hasn’t officially sounded yet, Harris and the leaders of other political parties have for the last number of weeks been out on the doors campaigning for their parties.
Harris looks to have gotten a jump on the competition with his appearance on the 2 Johnnies podcast, with Johnny Smacks prefacing the interview by saying: “We don’t usually talk politics on this podcast but the opportunity to talk to the political leader of our home country Ireland has come our way and we just can’t pass it up.”
The Taoiseach spoke of the need to attract young Irish people back to Ireland by building more houses and said he understands that many people have emigrated because they feel like they can’t buy a home.
During a discussion on rural services and immigration, Johnny B told the Taoiseach that it feels like local communities are not being consulted when it comes to the location of international protection accommodation centres, arguing that “it feels like we would have no veto”.
The Taoiseach said in response: “So look, I think no one can have a veto, right? No one gets a veto as to who lives next door to them.
“No one asked my next door neighbour was it okay for me to live beside them, but I do think there has to be better engagement with a community and we need to show communities what process do we actually go through when we are considering opening a new facility.”
“Is there a number that’s too many?,” Johnny Smacks then asked.
“Is there a point when as a government you turn around and say services are overflowing, we’re swamped?”
“So we’re not. We’re not swamped, we’re not ‘full’ or anything like that, I know you haven’t used that language… the population has grown but the challenge here isn’t that, the challenge is we need to be much more organised.
“The challenge is to have a much fairer system,” Harris said, adding that Ireland’s international protection system needs to move from an emergency response to a more organised one.
Elsewhere, Harris said despite the role of Taoiseach being difficult he “loves it” and “gets energy from meeting people across the country”.
During a quick fire round of questions he also revealed that the music he listens to is Oasis (wonderwall) and Coldplay; he would rather go for a pint with the Healy-Raes than Mattie McGrath; his favourite biscuit is a custard cream; and his hobbies are walking, podcasts, following rugby, and hanging out with his family and friends.
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Someone pinning you and forcing you to listen to this on repeat would he psychological warfare and a war crime.
@Cole Palmer: i heard they are already piping it into the cells in guantanamo!
2015 Simon says “NCH had an estimated cost to the exchequer of €650m and a completion date of 2020”.
2017 Simon says “I anticipate that the new hospital, which will serve all of the children of all Ireland, will open in 2021”.
Also in 2017 Simon says “that no child with scoliosis would wait longer than 12 months for corrective surgery”.
2018 Simon says that NCH is “about more than bricks and mortar, that it was about bringing a new era.”.
2018 Simon says he denies “that spending on the planned new hospital was out of control “ after The Irish Times revealed that the projected cost was now about €1.4 billion.
@Michale Kane: Jan 2019 Simon says that he made the decision to continue with the development of the new national children’s hospital despite the spiralling costs … Feb 2019 Simon says to Oireachtas committee that NCH at 1.4 billion “does represent good value for money”….
Feb 2019 Simon says his apologies to the Dail for missleading about the huge inncrease in cost of NCH….
Apr 2019 Simon says he will implement the 11 Major PWC review recomendations on the NCH
@Michale Kane: Feb 2023 Simon says that he received note on nursing home strategy, but claims cases were ‘historical’…
Jun 2024 Simon says the Gov commits to Covid inquiry before next general election….
All through 2024 Simon says NCH will cost at least 2.2 Billion and might be complete in 2026 … meaning as before, give or take a few billion and years.
@Michale Kane: epic win coming for sensational Simon :)
@Michale Kane: You are free to vote for whoever you see fit Michale. Copy pasting stuff won’t get you anywhere.
@Michale Kane: Simon is awesome, he’s gonna win bigly
@Alex: He’s doing the lord’s work in pointing out what a spoofer Simon is.
Yet he’ll still be in the top job after the next election.
@Alex: ” stuff ” ? .. lol.. they’re called facts.. you’re free to ignore them if you want.. are you sure you shouldn’t be voting in an election tomorrow with that mentality ?
@Brian: you shinnerbots are having an awful time of it lately lol
@Lefty Tears: is lefty the god sh!te! with the glasses? Jimly?
@Michale Kane: on the plus side we will have a children’s hospital.
if you look behind the pr, he think the commons are all fans of the 2 johnnies
@Dominic Leleu: Simon is a man of the people
@Dominic Leleu: “We’re not swamped, we’re not ‘full’ or anything like that” – Simon on immigration. The commoners won’t like that talk.
@9QRixo8H: Simon can do no wrong, easily our greatest ever leader. I couldn’t be prouder :)
@9QRixo8H: yea we’re not full, I mean thousands living in tents really shows we have plenty of room
@Ger Whelan: thousands of negro’s so wgaf
@Ger Whelan: there isn’t thousands living in tents, and those that are are as a result of government failure, not because the country is full
@9QRixo8H: the common folk tend to be ill informed the fact is immigration is outside our control but leaving that aside there is only one race and we must live together. The ignorance of say immigrants out when we should be saying more services for the people as a whole.
I’d say that they asked him some difficult questions like how did you collapse the government in 2020 or why did you ignore the cwrvical chech scandal as if it had nothing to do with him and his party whixh Sinn Féin out the dire effects of privatisation but hey, people seem quite happy to put him back in government with a record of absolute failure.
Harris looks like a 7-year-old showing off his new superman pajamas on Christmas morning.
Three stooges
2 johnnies, 1 knob
100 years of FFG is 100 years to many
Not voting ye in
Dont even feel like voting sick of ff and fg and all false promises .
@martin finnegan: don’t bother voting so, it’s for the best
@martin finnegan: get out and vote or loose the right to moan. Nearly 40% didnt bother voting last general election. If every family muster the strays to vote, even 10% could change things. All the propaganda and paid advertising disappear when its just you and a ballot paper.
@Mike Doe: not voting at all is the worst possible action you could take.
@Barney: i will vote just fed up ff and fg bull
Did they ask him about the arms shipments the FFG and Greens government are allowing through Shannon
Awesome to see, well done Simon. FG cruising to an epic win :)
@Mike Doe: this is awesome, FG are awesome
@Trump24: at this rate SF are going to have to do a Putin and scour the jails for candidates!
@Alan: remember to tell them exactly what you think of them on the doorstep
So his party position is that Ireland can take in loads more IP applicants, I would urge people to spend a few minutes researching what the “alleged” assault of a 15 year old boy entailed in Ballaghadreen last weekend, and, question where the gardai moved the “alleged” abusers to.
Why has this gang”assault” not been reported by our national media? And, if they dont report this,how many other such “assaults” are not been reported on, and why?
We say the Russians are being fed propeganda and yet here we are pretending all is well.
FG seems to want to load in as many as we can get for some reason? FF the same,and SF. But why???
@r k: there’s only one race. That’s it. The only difference between people in different countries is opportunity
The 2 Johnnies and Simon Harris? More like the Three Stooges.
Ffs
Pity his father didn’t wear a johnnie.
@Mies Valkenburg: pity yer ma didn’t swallow
Three Clowns….
Great opportunity to get rid of the greens I say.
The Three Musiscateers
He asking the 2 Jonnies to help him look for the other 18 covids
2 jonnies and Simple simon equals 3 planks
Look forward His forthright views of one time nearly playin’ county but now bein’ hungover after day 2 of a weddin’ after 9 creamy pints and having to play a junior C challenge match after a hape of Chicken Fillet Rolls (lad).
Best headline in a while.
Two, who is he expecting?
2 johnnies and one dick!
So the problem is organisation…gosh…if only someone was in charge of that…if only we had a system of electing people to be in charge of that, making it pretty much their sole job…
How are people in this country so gaslit with FG and FFs bs ?
Oh that’s just great tv
D’unbearables
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