Minister Chambers says cabinet supporting Tánaiste in wake of violent threats

Tánaiste Simon Harris has the “full solidarity” of his Cabinet colleagues following recent threats of extreme violence against his children and a close relative, as well as multiple bomb threats, public expenditure minister Jack Chambers has said.

On Sunday, different callers contacted a number of garda stations claiming that a bomb had been planted at Mr Harris’s family home in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

Those calls prompted a major security operation, and they came after threats of a sexual nature were made against a member of the Harris family last Friday.

A threat to kidnap Mr Harris’s young children was made the previous weekend. That threat resulted in the arrest of a woman for questioning last week.

On Monday, Mr Harris said he had “had to dig pretty deep” to find the resolve to attend the annual Fine Gael think-in in Mullingar, and he repeatedly refused to be drawn on whether he intended to stay in public life.

Sinister

Mr Chambers described the threats against Mr Harris as “so sinister”.

“The threats in the incidence are absolutely shocking, against the Tánaiste,” Mr Chambers told The Echo on a visit to Cork.

“We have a vibrant democracy, which we need to protect and no politician, elected or otherwise, should be subjected to such abuse, but also such sinister threats, and it has no place in Irish democracy.

“I know it’s been taken really seriously by An Garda Síochána.

“I think all of us as politicians value our day-to-day engagement with everybody across communities, these threats are taken seriously by all of us, and when they are so sinister, I think it's of serious concern to all of us.” 

Solidarity

Mr Chambers said there was “full solidarity with the Tánaiste".

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Mr Harris said it has been “a pretty rotten time” for him and his family.

“The vile nature of the threats targeting my children, very close family relatives and the sustained, relentless nature of it, I think and thought needs to be called out.

“This is not who we are. These are criminal acts and whatever people think of anybody's politics, I’m a democratically elected member of Dáil Éireann, I’m the leader of a political party and the Tánaiste of this Government,” he said.

“And I have a number of jobs. My job as a public representative and my job as a father, and a husband, and I’m trying to balance all of them. But like I say, I’ve dug deep, I’ve turned up and I’m trying to get on with the job.”