Simon Harris

Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and formerly served as a minister of state from 2014 to 2016.

Born in Greystones, County Wicklow, Harris first became involved in politics during his teenage years. He was elected to Wicklow County Council in the 2009 local elections and then elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election, becoming the " baby of the Dáil" at age 24. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance in 2014. Following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, he was appointed Minister for Health. On the formation of the coalition government in June 2020, he was appointed Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

Following the resignation of Leo Varadkar, Harris was elected leader of Fine Gael on 24 March 2024 and appointed Taoiseach on 9 April. At age 37, he became the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the state.

Early life

Harris was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, in 1986. He is the eldest of three children born to Bart and Mary Harris. A great-uncle of his was a Fine Gael councillor in Dún Laoghaire.

Harris was educated at St. David's Holy Faith Secondary School in Greystones, where he was active in drama and was head boy. He first became involved in local politics as a fifteen-year-old when he set up the North Wicklow Triple A Alliance to help the families of children with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit disorder. As a Junior Certificate student, he lobbied politicians to get better facilities to allow children with such disabilities to be integrated into mainstream education. Harris was a member of Fianna Fáil and canvassed for Dick Roche in the 2002 Irish general election, but later joined Fine Gael and was elected to Young Fine Gael's national executive in 2003.

Harris initially studied journalism and French, at the Dublin Institute of Technology, but dropped out in first year.

Early political career

Harris began working as an assistant to his future cabinet colleague Frances Fitzgerald in 2008, when she was a member of Seanad Éireann. At the 2009 local elections, Harris was elected to Wicklow County Council, with the highest percentage vote of any County Councillor in Ireland, and to Greystones Town Council. As a councillor, he served as chairperson of the County Wicklow Joint Policing Committee and Chairperson of the HSE Regional Health Forum. He was a member of Wicklow County Council's Housing Strategic Policy Committee and Wicklow Vocational Educational Committee.

Harris was elected to Dáil Éireann in 2011, taking the third seat in the Wicklow constituency. As the youngest deputy in the 31st Dáil, he was selected by Fine Gael to nominate Enda Kenny for Taoiseach, making his maiden speech. Harris served on the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, and Reform. He was also a member of the Oireachtas cross-party group on Mental Health, and introduced the Mental Health (Anti-Discrimination) Bill 2013, in June 2013.

Harris ran unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate in the South constituency at the 2014 European Parliament election.

In government

Minister of State

On 15 July 2014, Harris was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Public Procurement, and International Banking.

During a period of intense flooding throughout the country during the winter of 2015 and 2016, Harris was forced to deny accusations that the government had left €13m in the budget for flood relief works in 2015 unspent, while he had also secured funding for flood defences in his own constituency.

Minister for Health

On 6 May 2016, Harris was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Health. In his first year in the job, Harris faced the possibility of 30,000 health workers and 40,000 nurses going on strike. The planned strikes were later called off.

In 2016, Harris contributed to the "A Healthy Weight for Ireland – Obesity Policy and Action Plan 2016–2025", a policy outlining "the Government's desire to assist its people to achieve better health, and in particular to reduce the levels of overweight and obesity". Harris claims that "the approach taken in developing this policy was based on the Government framework for improved health and wellbeing of Ireland".

In 2017, Harris was accused of "practising hypocrisy" over his stance on the Sisters of Charity's ownership of the National Maternity Hospital. The controversy saw the resignations of Dr. Peter Boylan and Prof. Chris Fitzpatrick from the board of the hospital. The Religious Sisters of Charity later relinquished ownership of three hospitals: St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, St. Vincent's Private, and St. Michael's. Harris was re-appointed when Leo Varadkar succeeded Kenny as Taoiseach in June 2017.

Harris supported the legalisation of abortion in Ireland. He was the minister responsible for the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution, approved in a referendum, which removed the constitutional ban on abortion, and the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 which permitted abortion under specified circumstances.

On 26 April 2018, the HSE confirmed that 206 women developed cervical cancer after having a screening test which was subsequently deemed to be potentially inaccurate on lookback, once a woman presented with a confirmed diagnosis of Cervical Cancer and given the known limitations of screening using smear technology. In the resulting scandal, Harris was criticised for his handling of the matter on multiple occasions.

On 20 February 2019, Harris survived a motion of no-confidence over his handling of the rising costs (over €2 billion) of the new National Children's Hospital. The motion was voted down by 58 votes to 53 with 37 abstentions.

Harris introduced the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, emergency legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was enacted on 20 March 2020.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science

On 27 June 2020, Harris was appointed as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, leading a new department in the government led by Micheál Martin. On 4 May 2022, he published "Funding our Future", a new policy on sustainably funding higher education and reducing the cost of third-level education for students and families.

Harris was the Fine Gael Director of Elections for councillor James Geoghegan's campaign in the 2021 Dublin Bay South by-election. Following Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach on 17 December 2022, he was re-appointed to the same position, as well as Minister for Justice on a temporary basis during the maternity leave of Helen McEntee.

Fine Gael leadership

Leo Varadkar resigned as leader of Fine Gael on 20 March 2024, triggering a leadership election. Varadkar indicated that he would also resign as Taoiseach upon the election of the new Fine Gael leader. Nominations opened at 10 a.m. on 21 March 2024. By that afternoon, more than half of the Fine Gael parliamentary party had announced their support for Harris to be the next leader and all other cabinet ministers had ruled themselves out of the contest. Harris confirmed his intention to run for Fine Gael leader on the evening of 21 March 2024 on the '' Six One News''. When the deadline for nominations was reached on 24 March 2024, Harris was the only candidate, and he was confirmed as leader at the party's meeting in Athlone the same day. Both other government parties have indicated that they wish the government to run its full term notwithstanding the change of leadership. Varadkar tendered his resignation as Taoiseach to the President on 8 April. The Dáil reconvened after the Easter recess on 9 April, when Harris was forwarded for the nomination of Taoiseach.

Taoiseach

Following the resignation of Varadkar as Taoiseach on 8 April, Harris was nominated by the Dáil as Taoiseach on 9 April 2024, by a vote of 88 to 69. He received his appointment as Taoiseach by President Michael D. Higgins shortly afterwards as the youngest in the history of the state. Accepting the nomination of the Dáil, he paid tribute to his predecessor and acknowledged his status as the youngest elected officeholder, promising to be a "Taoiseach for all". The cabinet formation of the 34th government was announced by Harris in the Dáil that evening; with the appointment of Peter Burke as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment after Coveney's departure, likewise with Patrick O'Donovan as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in replacement of Harris.

Personal life

In 2017, Harris married Caoimhe Wade, a cardiac nurse who is originally from Wexford. They have one daughter and one son. Harris lives with Crohn's disease, but has said it has little impact on his day-to-day life.

Harris is the eldest of three siblings. His brother is autistic and runs the autism services charity AsIAm, which Harris co-founded.

Harris is noted for his social media presence, especially on TikTok, having been nicknamed the "TikTok Taoiseach". He amassed much of his following in his time as Minister for Health during the Covid-19 pandemic, with an approach more casual than typical political communication, often reaching younger audiences.

References

External links

Simon Harris's page on the Fine Gael website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Simon
1986 births
Living people
Fine Gael TDs
Members of Wicklow County Council
Members of the 31st Dáil
Members of the 32nd Dáil
Members of the 33rd Dáil
Ministers for Health (Ireland)
Ministers of State of the 31st Dáil
Politicians from Dublin (city)
Ministers for Justice (Ireland)
Taoisigh
People from Greystones
Leaders of Fine Gael
People with Crohn's disease