Simon Harris will become Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister after the leadership race in his Fine Gael party ended without any other candidates being nominated.
Last week, Leo Varadkar announced his unexpected resignation “for personal and political reasons”. As a result, Harris, 37, the higher education minister, was the only candidate when voting closed at 1 p.m. on Sunday, but he will not become taoiseach until 9 April when the Irish parliament, the Dáil, resumes after the Easter recess.
The future minister outlined his leadership priorities on Sunday at a convention in Athlone, County Westmeath, to select the party’s candidates for the European Parliament elections in June. Harris said he wants the centre-right Fine Gael party, which is run alongside the Fianna Fáil Conservatives and the Green Party, to return to core values, including making work pay, being tough on law and order and supporting farmers. He said:
“Fine Gael stands for supporting businesses, especially small businesses the length and breadth of this country. Fine Gael stands for making work pay, for making sure we value work and we value people who go to work. Fine Gael stands for law and order.”
He also told delegates “it was the absolute honour of my life” to be elected leader. He concluded, to a standing ovation, with: “I’m up for it. Are you?”
Heather Humphreys, the social care minister representing the rural border constituency, is expected to be appointed deputy party leader. Harris has not yet given any indication of possible changes in Fine Gael’s ministerial ranks. However, there is speculation that ministers who are not going to stand at the next election will be dropped. It is widely believed that Simon Coveney will be the victim of the reshuffle.
Varadkar resigned after taking responsibility for the government’s failure in recent referendums to update references to women and the family in the constitution.
At 37, Mr. Harris will make history as Ireland’s youngest taoiseach – taking the top post a year earlier than his predecessor in 2017. He first entered the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish parliament) more than a decade ago at the age of 24 as TD (Member of Parliament) for Wicklow.
Mr. Harris moved quickly up the party ladder and secured his first cabinet position, becoming Minister for Health, five years later in 2016. In that post, he oversaw the vote to repeal the abortion ban in the Republic of Ireland and the country’s cervical cancer screening scandal.
He also oversaw the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic before being replaced as Minister when a new coalition government was formed in 2020. Since then he has been Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and also served briefly as Minister for Justice.
