Who is Simon Harris? 37-year-old emerges as sole candidate to be Ireland PM
Global News
Ireland's Simon Harris, a 37-year-old politician best known for helping steer the country's response to COVID-19, entered the contest to become its prime minister on Thursday.
Ireland’s Simon Harris, a 37-year-old politician best known for helping steer the country’s response to COVID-19, entered the contest to become its prime minister on Thursday following Leo Varadkar’s shock exit.
Harris, currently the only candidate in the race, will become Ireland’s youngest prime minister if he succeeds. He will also have no more than a year to save his party from defeat at a general election that could see the nationalist Sinn Fein party replace it as the lead party in government.
Varadkar announced his surprise departure on Wednesday, citing personal and political reasons, prompting an internal contest within the governing Fine Gael party to replace him ahead of parliamentary elections due by early 2025.
Harris, currently Ireland’s minister for further and higher education, was health minister from 2016 until mid-2020.
A graduate of the youth arm of Fine Gael and a lifelong politician, he has received support publicly from many in the parliamentary party.
“I am overwhelmed, honored, a little taken aback, and extremely grateful for the level of support that I’ve received today from all strands of our party,” Harris told RTE television as he announced his candidacy.
“I think any leadership change always provides a moment of renewal and a moment to reconnect. It provides an opportunity for fresh energy and for new ideas.”
Harris is one of Ireland’s most visible government ministers, with 92,000 followers on TikTok and 1.8 million likes for videos that occasionally dip into bizarrely awkward territory. He left college before completing his undergraduate degree and had settled on a career in politics only a few years after he was old enough to vote.
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