Ireland: Simon Harris appointed by his party to head the government

A new Prime Minister in Ireland where, to everyone's surprise, Leo Varadkar resigned last Wednesday, believing that he was no longer "the best person" to assume his functions. Simon Harris, current Minister of Higher Education, will succeed him, we learned this Sunday March 24.

Irish Minister Simon Harris, after his election as president of Fine Gael, in Athlone, this Sunday March 24, 2024. © Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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With our correspondent in Dublin,

Clémence Pénard

He is already nicknamed the “ 

TikTok

Taoiseach”.

Simon Harris

will be officially elected “Taoiseach”, as the Prime Minister is called in

Ireland

, on April 9, after the Easter holidays. The person in question has a perfect mastery of social networks, very active both on Instagram and therefore on TikTok.

His potential rivals quickly all announced that they would not run to lead the Fine Gael party. Simon Harris, the only candidate, was thus elected by this center-right party, this Sunday, March 24, to take the lead, in place of

Leo Varadkar

. He will therefore be Prime Minister.

Son of a taxi driver and a school assistant, Simon Harris devoted himself to politics at a very young age. And he quickly climbed the ranks: local elected official at 22, deputy at 24 – he was called the “baby of Parliament” at the time – and today, at 37, Prime Minister!

Leo Varadkar himself was 38 years old when he was first appointed in 2017. Simon Harris is therefore set to take his place once again, as the youngest Taoiseach ever.

To rereadIreland: Prime Minister Leo Varadkar leaves his post

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