Ireland's youngest prime minister: Who is Simon Harris?
In Ireland, 37-year-old Simon Harris was elected as the country's new prime minister after the vote in the lower house of parliament (Dail). 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.
Harris made history as the country's youngest prime minister with 88 votes against 69 in the vote held after the surprise resignation of Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar last month. After the vote, new Prime Minister Harris visited Irish President Michael Higgins at his official residence.
Harris officially became the country's new Prime Minister following the approval of President Higgins. In his post from X, Simon Harris said, "I will be a Prime Minister for everyone; a Prime Minister who will work every day to realize the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all our people..."
Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish Fine Gael 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.
After Varadkar resigned from his position in the government and party on March 20, Harris was elected the new leader of the ruling Fine Gael on March 24.
Born on October 17, 1986, Harris also has the title of the youngest member of parliament.
Harris, who was first elected as a member of the Wicklow City Council in 2009 with the highest vote rate for a municipal councilor candidate, was elected as an MP at the age of 25.
Harris, who is also the youngest member of parliament in the country, became Minister of Health at the age of 29. Harris was appointed Minister of Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science in 2020.
Harris, who was appointed as Minister of Health at the age of 29, was praised for his handling of the crisis during the coronavirus outbreak. He had to apologize after he made a statement in a radio program stating that there was COVID-18 before COVID-19.
What did he say about the Israel-Hamas war?
Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Leo Varadkar, Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. “Fine Gael is a party that is not afraid to speak truth to power about the disaster we are witnessing in Gaza and to express unequivocally the moral outrage of the Irish people,” he said.
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