Simon Harris has become the youngest-ever prime minister of Ireland, officially taking office in Dublin on Tuesday after Leo Varadkar suddenly stepped down last month.
Harris, 37, ran unopposed to replace Varadkar as leader of the ruling Fine Gael party, and the final formalities of his rise to power were completed in the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament.
He has held a number of government positions since being earmarked as a rising political star in his late 20s, most recently serving as the minister for higher education and science.
But Harris faces a daunting political challenge in the coming months; a general election in Ireland must be held by late March 2025, and Fine Gael is trailing in opinion polls to the Irish republican group Sinn Fein, which was once the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Varadkar led a charge to liberalize some of Ireland’s socially conservative laws, most notably easing the country’s strict anti-abortion mandates.
But his government faced backlash over Ireland’s housing crisis and soaring immigration numbers.
In his first speech after being elected, Harris condemned Israel for its conduct in Gaza, vowing “not to be silent” on the war in remarks that immediately make him one of the West’s most forceful critics of Israel.
“In Gaza, we are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. And we are seeing innocent children, women, and men being starved and slaughtered,” Harris told lawmakers in the Irish parliament. “We have not been silent on the unforgivable terrorist actions of Hamas on October the seventh. Nor can we be silent on the disproportionate reaction of the Israeli government.”
Harris’s rise was fast, but his time at the top may be brief.
“I will take office when time is short, but there is so much to do,” he admitted when addressing his party last week. The shine of Varadkar’s government wore off during his second stint as taoiseach; Harris inherits a governing coalition facing a difficult fight to return to office.
A housing crisis has gripped Ireland, felt especially by younger voters whom Harris will be so keen to court. That, coupled a cost of living crunch and concerns over immigration, has helped diminish public support for the two traditional parties that have dominated Irish politics over the last century.
In their place, Sinn Fein has surged. The left-wing, Irish nationalist party has swept recent elections in Northern Ireland, and is also leading polls in the south.
Sinn Fein was once considered to be the political wing of the IRA, which fought a bloody three-decade military campaign to end British rule and unite the island of Ireland, though the party has since positioned itself as a grassroots left-wing political party focused on social issues on both sides of the border.
Its reemergence as the prominent political bloc on the island of Ireland has raised discussions about a so-called border poll on the reunification of Ireland, though that prospect still remains a distant one.
Harris told Sky News after his election as Fine Gael leader on Saturday that reunification is “a legitimate aspiration,” but added: “That’s not where my focus and priority is right now and quite frankly, it’s not where I believe our focus and priority should be.”
Source: CNN