Mr Harris is in Brussels today for a meeting of the European Council, where the situation in the Middle East, Migration and Ukraine will be discussed.
Speaking ahead of this morning’s meeting, the Taoiseach was asked about the timing of the next general election, after Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he would be open to the possibility of a pre Christmas election, if key legislation was passed.
“What I have said previously, what I say again today, is I want the government to finish the work that is underway. It is then obviously my constitutional prerogative to seek the most appropriate time, and in my view, in the best interest for Ireland to have a general election,” the Taoiseach said.
He added that he looked forward to asking the Irish people to give him a mandate to be the Taoiseach.
“I will [call an election] in a way that is considered. When is the right time for Ireland to have a general election? When is the right time for me to ask the people of Ireland to renew my mandate?
“I’ve been Taoiseach of this country for just over six months. I very much look forward to putting my case to the people and asking the people to give me an opportunity to have a mandate to be Taoiseach for the time ahead,” Mr Harris said.
Today’s News in 90 seconds – 17th October 2024
The European Council meeting comes as Italy becomes the first EU member state to introduce a scheme that will see asylum seekers diverted to Albania while their applications are being processed.
Italy has built two reception centres in Albania at a cost of around €650 million. Migrants will be diverted to these centres, however, children, pregnant women and vulnerable people will be excluded.
The scheme began this week and saw 16 migrants brought to the centre at the port of Shengjin.
Migration will be prominent during discussions at the council meeting and the Taoiseach said Ireland cannot go it alone in getting a grip on the issue.
Asked about the government’s view of the processing hubs for migrants, the Taoiseach said it would keep an open mind.
He added that the challenge that EU countries face on migration meant “innovative solutions” should be considered.
“We keep an open mind in relation to all of these things. However, anything that Europe does, of course, must be underpinned by our common European values in terms of international law, human rights, meeting our humanitarian obligations,” the Taoiseach said.
“We are facing such a scale of challenge when it comes to migration. Of course, we should always be willing to consider innovative solutions once they are grounded in that,” he said.
However, the Taoiseach said it was important that any potential proposals are not “misrepresented” and described the UK’s Rwanda policy as “downright stupid”.
“I deplored everything about the Rwanda policy. I thought it was downright stupid, to be quite honest. It didn’t really work, didn’t really result in anything happening. It spent a lot of time, a lot of I presume, British taxpayers money, didn’t really achieve much at all,” the Taoiseach said.
“In my view it was not in any way compatible with human rights law. That’s my view. We need to just be careful that bad examples don’t get conflated with what the European Union is actually trying to do here, which is look at every possible legal lever we have to put in place in a migration system.” he added.
