Irish Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris was named the newest leader of the ruling Fine Gael party and taoiseach (prime minister) of the country over the weekend after the shock resignation of Leo Varadkar.
In his opening speech to party colleagues on Sunday (Mar. 24), Harris, who was elected unopposed to succeed Varadkar, pledged to help small businesses, focus on law and order, and tackle migration.
"This is a moment for Fine Gael to reset," he told hundreds of members at a party event in the midlands town of Athlone. "Under my leadership, Fine Gael stands for supporting businesses, especially small businesses ... Fine Gael stands for supporting the family farm ... Fine Gael stands for law and order, on the side of An Garda Siochána [police], where our streets are safe and crime is never allowed [to] go unchecked."
While already taking on the role of the country's new youngest prime minister, 37-year-old Harris's election has yet to be confirmed by Fine Gael's coalition partners when parliament next sits on April 9.
However, he would have less than 12 months to save the coalition from defeat at parliamentary elections as polls for the last three years favored Sinn Fein, a left-wing party backing unification with British-run Northern Ireland, to head the next government.
Nevertheless, Harris intended to run a full term to March 2025.
It was previously reported that Varadkar - Ireland's first openly gay PM - resigned due to "personal and political" reasons. He was 38 when he was named to Ireland's top job in 2017.
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Who is Simon Harris?
Harris was born in 1986 and grew up in the coastal town of Greystones, County Wicklow.
One of the first instances when Harris was involved in politics was when he was 16. According to the BBC, his younger brother Adam is autistic, and he invited autistic people and their families to a gathering in his local parish hall, which resulted in the establishment of a new autism support and lobby group.
"I was really frustrated - as that moody, opinionated teenager - with the lack of information around autism," he told Hotpress in a 2022 interview. "I saw the stress and strain my parents went through, and called a public meeting in my hometown."
Harris entered politics for Fine Gael in 2009 as a local councilor. He became the youngest MP ever elected in 2011 when he won the seat of Wicklow for the party. He eventually became health minister in 2016.
As a government minister, he was one of Ireland's most visible and most performing on social media. He was also best known for helping steer the country's initial response to COVID-19.
His keen social media presence further led one opponent in parliament to dub Harris the "TikTok taoiseach."
In 2017, Harris married his long-term girlfriend, children's cardiac nurse Caoimhe Wade, with his brother Adam as his best man at the ceremony.
The couple shares two children together.
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