Taoisech Simon Harris has indicated to his fellow Coalition party leaders that he wants to make a decision on the future funding of RTÉ before the summer recess. Photograph: Shutterstock
Meetings in Brussels and Warsaw on Thursday, and the visit of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez to Dublin on Friday, where the plan for several EU states to recognise Palestinian statehood was among the issues discussed, have meant that the focus in the first days of Mr Harris’s tenure has been on international affairs.
The first meeting of an interdepartmental group to implement the optional protocol for the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities has also been set for this month, with the intention to name a date in the near future. The protocol would give disabled people the power to seek enforcement of their rights under the protocol.
Mr Harris has also indicated to his fellow Coalition party leaders that he wants to make a decision on the future funding of RTÉ before the summer recess, with decisions on the future of hate speech legislation and proposed laws on longer opening hours also expected before then.