Simon Harris has been confirmed as the new leader of Fine Gael, paving the way for him to become Ireland's youngest premier.
Father-of-two Mr Harris has been described by his party colleagues as 'energetic', 'a great communicator' and as having a 'vision for Ireland that is about equality of opportunity'. Mr Harris became Irish prime minister in waiting today, pledging to help small business, focus on law and order and tackle migration after his unopposed election to succeed Mr Varadkar as leader of the governing Fine Gael party.
Polls for the last three years have put Sinn Fein, a left-wing party that backs unification with British-run Northern Ireland, as the favourite to head the next government. He has previously said he remains fully committed to the programme for government agreed with coalition partners Fianna Fail and the Green Party.
The Further and Higher Education Minister announced his candidature on Thursday night having after garnered a plethora of parliamentarians, MEPs and councillors to back him as the party's next leaderMr Harris is expected to be formally elected as Taoiseach in the Dail in April following the Easter recess, and would become the country's youngest premier at the age of 37Paying tribute in a statement, Mr Harris said last week: 'Leo has steered our party and our country through very...
Leo Varadkar reveals his partner Matthew Barrett is 'delighted' with his decision to quit as Irish PM With his youth and slick communication skills his opponents jibe that he is 'Leo 2.0', a continuation of a 'metropolitan' style of politics that is out of touch with the wider electorate. Future leader of Fine Gael Simon Harris TD, walks out of Leinster House on Thursday evening to speak to media
READ MORE: Simon Harris, 37, who once told rowdy meeting to 'chillax' to replace Leo Varadkar as youngest PM Advertisement His maiden speech in the Dail was to nominate Enda Kenny as taoiseach. Later in the three-party coalition government, he became minister at the newly-formed Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
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