Overview
- TDs voted 94 to 65 to express confidence in Tánaiste Simon Harris, with one abstention recorded.
- The Government brought the motion to head off Aontú’s plan to table a no-confidence vote next week.
- Aontú’s Peadar Tóibín and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald criticised the step as a “cheap cynical trick” designed to shut down scrutiny.
- The row follows scandals at Children’s Health Ireland, including non-surgical springs implanted in patients, unnecessary hip operations, data security concerns and in-sourcing issues.
- After the death of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt following delays to urgent scoliosis surgery, Harris requested a full multidisciplinary report and met the child’s parents, who have called for his resignation.