Ireland’s Dáil is expected today to confirm Simon Harris, 37, as successor to Leo Varadkar, who stunned the country last month when he announced his resignation as prime minister and leader of Fine Gael.
The higher education minister blitzed potential rivals to be coronated as the party’s new leader. Fine Gael’s coalition partners, Fianna Fáil and the Greens, back him to become taoiseach.
It will be the culmination of a precocious rise for a polished communicator who has rewritten the political rulebook in Ireland but is barely known in Belfast, London or Brussels.
The new taoiseach will face daunting challenges. A housing crisis and fraying public services dim the centre-right coalition’s hopes of winning an election due by next March. Farmers are chafing at environmental rules while climate activists lament missed targets. Post-Brexit relations with London are tetchy and Northern Ireland’s government is fragile. About a third of Fine Gael’s Dáil deputies are stepping down rather than face voters.
Yet Harris has reputedly yearned for this opportunity since he was a teenager. “He’s acutely and almost obsessionally ambitious,” said Shane Ross, a former Fine Gael and independent politician who served in cabinet with Harris and knew him as a newly elected legislator in 2011. “He was always in a hurry, even at that time. Very early on he declared his leadership ambitions.”
Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin said he had a lengthy, “constructive” discussion with Simon Harris and that his party will be backing his nomination.
He congratulated Harris and said he looks forward to constructive and effective cooperation ahead.
In the Dáil, Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys has proposed Simon Harris as the new taoiseach.
In a speech on Saturday, Simon Harris, who is expected to be confirmed as Ireland’s new leader today, spoke about his background and plans for the future.
“My story began when my younger brother Adam was diagnosed with autism, and I began to campaign for better information and services. I quickly learned that very many families were feeling like ours: Alone. This was the formative experience of my life,” he said.
“I’m gonna hit the ground running,” he said, adding: “I will stand by our values as a party and our vision as a nation. A tolerant, inclusive, and outward-looking society, which is fair, caring and secure.”
“We have to fix housing for once and for all,” he stressed. “Under my leadership, Fine Gael will introduce a package to support businesses to make sure you thrive and prosper,” Harris noted.
He also said: “I want to say to farmers and to rural Ireland, Fine Gael will never talk down to you on climate action.”
Ireland’s Dáil is expected today to confirm Simon Harris, 37, as successor to Leo Varadkar, who stunned the country last month when he announced his resignation as prime minister and leader of Fine Gael.
The higher education minister blitzed potential rivals to be coronated as the party’s new leader. Fine Gael’s coalition partners, Fianna Fáil and the Greens, back him to become taoiseach.
It will be the culmination of a precocious rise for a polished communicator who has rewritten the political rulebook in Ireland but is barely known in Belfast, London or Brussels.
The new taoiseach will face daunting challenges. A housing crisis and fraying public services dim the centre-right coalition’s hopes of winning an election due by next March. Farmers are chafing at environmental rules while climate activists lament missed targets. Post-Brexit relations with London are tetchy and Northern Ireland’s government is fragile. About a third of Fine Gael’s Dáil deputies are stepping down rather than face voters.
Yet Harris has reputedly yearned for this opportunity since he was a teenager. “He’s acutely and almost obsessionally ambitious,” said Shane Ross, a former Fine Gael and independent politician who served in cabinet with Harris and knew him as a newly elected legislator in 2011. “He was always in a hurry, even at that time. Very early on he declared his leadership ambitions.”
