Simon Harris: From an ‘accidental’ activist to Ireland’s TikTok Taoiseach

Simon Harris, a social media-savvy politician who was inspired to get into politics after his brother’s autism diagnosis, has become Ireland’s youngest premier.

Mr Harris was formally sworn in at the President of Ireland’s official residence on Tuesday afternoon after the Irish parliament’s lower house approved his nomination.

“Today I accept this new role in a spirit of humility, ready for the challenge, and full of energy and determination about what can be achieved,” he told parliamentarians.

The 37-year-old father of two has been described by Fine Gael colleagues as “energetic”, “a great communicator” and as having a “vision for Ireland that is about equality of opportunity”.

Already dubbed “the TikTok Taoiseach”, the personable politician is well-versed on social media sites and has been at the helm of three departments over an eight-year period.

His visibility during his tenure as justice minister – covering for Helen McEntee while she was on maternity leave – fuelled speculation about his interest in a leadership bid for the so-called “law and order” party.

The former student of journalism at Dublin Institute of Technology has gone from writing headlines to being propelled into them.

As a young boy growing up in the seaside town of Greystones in Co Wicklow, he is reported to have said he wanted to be taoiseach – though his mother said he had also considered being a vet at one stage.

Mr Harris has said his political story began after his younger brother Adam was diagnosed with autism when Mr Harris was eight years old.

Describing himself as an “opinionated teenager”, he said he became an activist “accidentally” through campaigning for better information and services, which included sending faxes to local papers and calling public meetings in the local church hall.

He said that his family did not have a “political lineage” but that the first politician they knew was the former Fianna Fail TD for Wicklow Dick Roche, for whom they distributed leaflets.

But former taoiseach and ex-Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny convinced Mr Harris to join his party.

After cutting his political teeth as an assistant to former justice minister Frances Fitzgerald when she was a senator, and then working as a councillor, he was elected to the Irish parliament as its youngest TD in 2011, aged 24.

His maiden speech in the Dail was to nominate Mr Kenny as taoiseach.

He served as a junior minister in the Department of Finance from 2014 before being propelled to the role of minister for health in the Fine Gael-led minority government that was formed in 2016.

Known as one of the most difficult Irish ministries, Mr Harris faced issues such as the ownership of the National Maternity Hospital, the spiralling cost of the National Children’s Hospital and a controversy around Ireland’s cervical cancer screening programme.

After the Irish public voted to liberalise its abortion laws in a 2018 referendum, Mr Harris was praised by campaigners as a strong voice for the Yes campaign.

In the February 2020 general election, he was returned on the 15th count and remained as a caretaker health minister.

In the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, he urged people to wear face coverings and adhere to new rules, but was criticised for an absence of planning for nursing homes.

After incorrectly saying during a radio interview that Covid-19 meant there were 18 other coronaviruses, he recorded an Instagram live video in which he apologised and said he was an “awful old idiot at times”.

In the three-party coalition government, he became minister at the newly formed Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

As higher education minister, he toured the country opening and speaking at educational institutions, and during his brief stint as justice minister he traversed bogs with families of the Disappeared.

During his inaugural speech as Fine Gael leader at the party’s annual conference last weekend, he told delegates his key priorities were housing, law and order and support for small businesses.

He also addressed recent tensions in Ireland over increased immigration rates, as he pledged to oversee a “fair” but “firm” system to manage migration into the country.

Mr Harris also spoke about his his wife Caoimhe, a nurse, and their young children Saoirse and Cillian, who were present in the Dail to watch him become Taoiseach.

His mother Mary, a retired special needs assistant, his father Bart, a taxi driver, his brother Adam, the chief executive of the autism charity AsIAm and his sister Gemma were also in attendance.

Mr Harris also used his speech to issue a blunt message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Ireland was “repulsed” by his actions.

As Taoiseach, he will take Leo Varadkar’s old title as the youngest-ever Irish premier.