Simon Harris was elected the new prime minister ofIreland. After the surprise resignation last month of Leo Varadkar, the 37-year-old leader of the centre-right party Fine Gael he became the youngest taoiseach of the history of the island. The Dial approved his appointment with 88 votes in favor and 69 against.
“There is now an opportunity to build a new one social contractone who renews our promise as a republic,” Harris said. “Create equality of opportunity. Support those who need the state most. Protect our hard-won success. Use benefits to deliver tangible results to society”. The new prime minister promised to bring “new ideasa new energy and a new empathy in public life“, committing “with hard work, with blood, sweat and tears, day after day, with responsibility And humility”.
Son of a taxi driver and a school assistant and born in the coastal town of Greystones, he gave up finishing his studies in journalism and French at university to dedicate himself very young to politics. His rise was meteoric: he joined the Fine Gael when he was a sixteen-year-old and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming an official at 22 and a deputy at 24. In 2014, he joined the government as Secretary of State for Finance. Two years later, he moved to the ministry of Healthcarea position he also held during the beginning of the pandemic of Covid-19, during which he was praised for his talent as a communicator but also criticized for the high number of deaths in retirement homes. Before Varadkar’s resignation, however, he was the head of Education. He has become one of Ireland’s most visible political figures thanks to his mastery of socialin particular TikTok where he collects more than a million likes on his posts. “I know that in many ways my career has been a little strange. Life came upon me much more quickly than I would have imagined“he admitted during an interview with Hot Press magazine in 2022.
Because of his age and communication skills, political opponents called him “Leo 2.0”, to underline that it will only be a new version of his predecessor’s political style deemed disconnected from reality.
According to supporters, however, his enthusiasm could revitalize The Fine Gaelin third place in the polls a few weeks before the local elections and less than a year after the consultations for the European Parliament.
