Simon Harris has said he hopes to meet the parents of Harvey Morrison Sherratt “in the coming weeks”. 

The nine year old died in July, having suffered in agony for many years while waiting for scoliosis surgery. 

By the time Harvey received his surgery in November last year, his spine was severely curved and his father told The Hard Shoulder that his son’s care at Children’s Health Ireland had been “really, really poor”. 

Back in 2017, Simon Harris was Minister for Health and promised that no child in Ireland would wait more than four months for lifesaving surgery. 

It is a promise that the State has not kept and the Tánaiste said it is something he "reflects on" every day.

 “Because that’s legitimately brought up with me as it rightly should [be],” he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“What I would say is this; this was a commitment given to me by the HSE and Children’s Health Ireland as Minister. 

“Yes, I repeated it many, many, many times. 

“But I would say… it did see about 200 extra spinal surgeries carried out over a two year period. 

“It did put a real focus on increasing the number of children getting access to really, really important surgery.” 

Harvey. Picture by: Stephen Morrison

The Tánaiste conceded that children with scoliosis are still not getting the care they need and that the Government needs to be “humble” when listening to their parents’ anger and concern. 

“There are clearly serious issues they’re experiencing in relation to Children’s Health Ireland,” he admitted.  

“There was another spinal surgeon hired just on the 11th August. 

“Myself and the Minister for Health I know are very eager to meet with parents, with advocacy groups, to meet with the parents of Harvey in the coming weeks and to try and really, really make progress and listen to what parents are saying.”

Threats

Over the weekend, Gardaí received a number of phone calls from people claiming that a bomb had been left in the Tánaiste’s Wicklow home. 

A Garda search of the property was swiftly carried out. 

Reflecting on the experience, Minister Harris said there is far too much abuse in public life and what happened to his family is “beyond the pale”. 

“It’s not normal what we’ve experienced, it’s not appropriate, it’s not acceptable, it’s criminal,” he said. 

“It’s me today, it’s somebody else tomorrow and we need to call a halt to this.” 

Simon Harris in Kildare. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Minister Harris added that for some time he had been hugely worried about the threat people on the internet pose to children. 

“For quite a while, I’ve been concerned around online safety for children,” he said. 

“I just think, I’m not talking about my personal situation, I just think we do need to take stock in Ireland in relation to what we’re going to do. 

“Somebody will get hurt.” 

Housing

Last year, 30,330 new homes were built in Ireland - fewer than the 32,525 completed in 2023 and significantly less than the 40,000 the Government had hoped would be delivered. 

The Programme for Government set a target of “more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030” and Minister Harris said he was “open” to introducing tax breaks for developers in order to achieve that. 

Simon Harris at Trinity College in 2022. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy

“If it is very targeted, if it is fully focused on viability issues and then if we are crystal clear, ‘That’s it, get on with it, build us the homes, build us the apartments’,” he said. 

“We do need policy certainty in this area; we have taken a number of big calls - some people will agree with them, some people will disagree with them.

“But whether it’s apartment standards, rent pressure zones, extending planning permissions, new national planning framework, we’ve taken a number of big decisions. 

“We could take one or two more in the budget and then the sector needs to know, ‘That’s it, get on with building the homes people need.’”

Main image: Simon Harris. Picture by: Newstalk.