Simon Harris is Ireland's youngest prime minister

Brussels – The Parliament of the Republic of Ireland today (April 9) voted Simon Harris as the new Taoiseach (prime minister). At 37, the leader of the centre-right Fine Gael party will be the youngest ever to lead the country. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has congratulated him on X (formerly Twitter), adding that she expects him in Brussels.

My warmest congratulations to @SimonHarrisTD on being elected Taoiseach of Ireland today.
We will work hand in hand to deliver for the people of Ireland, and for Europe as a whole.
Looking forward to meeting you in Brussels on Thursday.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 9, 2024

Simon Harris succeeds Leo Varadkar, who had abruptly announced his resignation on March 20. Harris, a former Education Minister, ran for succession as Fine Gael leader without finding opposition within the party. At 37, Simon Harris will be the youngest taoiseach ever, surpassing the record of 38 set by Varadkar himself in 2017.

Simon Harris was born in 1986 in Greystones, a small coastal town south of Dublin. He is the youngest of three children of a cab driver and a social worker. His younger brother, Adam, has autism, and it was this fact that brought the new prime minister closer to politics. The passion, however, was consolidated during his studies and led him to drop out of the journalism degree program in his penultimate year to devote himself entirely to politics. In 2011, he was elected to parliament, becoming, at 24, the youngest MP ever.

In 2016, he joined the cabinet as health minister and, the following summer, married Caoimhe Wade, a longtime nurse and companion with whom he would have two children. In 2018, as the Health Minister, Simon Harris oversaw the historic vote by which Ireland legalized abortion. He is known at home for his intense use of social media, so much so that now that he has become the new prime minister, the press has already dubbed him as ‘The TikTok taoiseach.

@simon_harristd
Climate change is about partnership. Stop lecturing farmers. Stop imposing. Instead let’s look at pragmatic and pratical solutions to address climate change. #farmers #fyp #farming #farm #foryou #sunday #irishtiktok #irishfarmer #foryourpage
♬ original sound – Simon Harris