Image: Mr Harris pictured with Leo Varadkar. Pic: PA
The 37-year-old minister for further and higher education will snatch the title of Ireland’s youngest-ever PM from his predecessor Leo Varadkar, who was 38 when he bagged the top job.
Harris doesn’t turn 38 until 17 October. His has always been a story of achievement at a young age.
Hailing from Greystones in County Wicklow – a scenic seaside commuter town south of Dublin – Fine Gael’s Mr Harris was elected to Wicklow County Council in 2009 with the highest percentage vote of any councillor.
Just two years later, he won election to the Dail, the Irish parliament’s lower house, taking the third seat in the Wicklow constituency. He was 25, and the youngest member of the parliament.
He became a junior minister in 2014 after an unsuccessful bid to become a MEP.
Always considered destined for a rapid rise within Fine Gael, he was elevated to the cabinet at the age of 29 when he was appointed minister for health by the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2016.
The health portfolio has long been considered a poisoned chalice in Irish politics, but an ambitious Mr Harris understood it could also be a springboard to higher office.
As minister for health, he became a leading figure in the seismic 2018 abortion referendum, pushing hard for a yes vote. He later revealed his wife was pregnant with their first child at the time.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Privately, he said, he was “conscious that we were about to start a family”, as he advocated for Irish women’s right for termination.
He had to survive a motion of no confidence brought against him in 2019 over the spiralling cost of Ireland’s still-unfinished National Children’s Hospital.
Then came COVID-19, and the minister for health became a figurehead for the Irish government’s efforts to combat the virus, appearing almost daily on the nation’s televisions.
Image: Mr Harris was Ireland’s health minister during the COVID pandemic. File pic: PA
Just when his star appeared ascendant, he suffered a setback. A move from the Department of Health to his current role overseeing third-level education was seen as an effective demotion for Mr Harris, but few doubted his time would come.
His ambition and hunger has long been understood within the party.
He appears to have spent the last number of years shoring up support for his leadership designs, not just among backbenchers and senators, but also councillors.
Mild-mannered, with a bookish demeanour emphasised by greying hair he freely admits was a premature arrival, he is considered one of Fine Gael’s best media performers, if not the best.
He enthusiastically embraces social media, sometimes to his own detriment.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The husband of Coronation Street star Julie Goodyear has revealed the pain of watching his beloved wife "slowly fading away" after her dementia diagnosis.Scott Brand has shared his experience as part of a new Alzheimer's Society campaign, featuring a TV advert voiced by British actor Colin Firth. The advert, titled The Long Goodbye, illustrates the harsh reality of the disease's progression - causing loved ones to "die again, and again, […]
Post comments (0)