Dublin: Irish lawmaker Simon Harris was elected as Ireland's new Prime Minister by a vote in parliament on Tuesday, becoming the country's youngest premier after openly gay and Indian-origin Leo Varadkar announced a surprise resignation last month. Harris will now take over as the head of Ireland's three-party coalition government led by the centre-right Fine Gael party and was already poised to replace Varadkar.
The 37-year-old Harris, who has been the coalition government's further and higher education minister, was the only candidate to put his name forward to succeed Varadkar, who had been Ireland's previous youngest prime minister, or what Ireland calls its taoiseach. Varadkar announced his resignation on March 20 due to "personal and political reasons" and said he had no future plans, apart from remaining in parliament as a backbench lawmaker.
Harris was formally appointed to the post by President Michael D Higgins in a ceremony at the president's official residence in Dublin. Lawmakers in the Dáil, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, confirmed Harris as taoiseach, or prime minister, by an 88-69 vote. He now faces challenges including a strained health service, soaring housing costs and an exodus of Fine Gael lawmakers, more than 10 of whom have said they will not run for reelection.
“I commit to doing everything that I can to honour the trust that you have placed in me today,” Harris said. “As taoiseach I want to bring new ideas, a new energy and a new empathy to public life". Harris was first elected to parliament at 24 and has been nicknamed the “TikTok taoiseach” – pronounced TEA-shock -- because of his fondness for communicating on social media.
About Indian-origin Leo Varadkar
Varadkar was the previous youngest-ever premier when first elected at age 38, as well as Ireland's first openly gay prime minister. He was also Ireland's first biracial PM - his mother is Irish and his father is Indian. The 45-year-old had two spells as taoiseach, or prime minister — between 2017 and 2020, and again since December 2022 as part of a job-share with Micheál Martin, head of coalition partner Fianna Fáil.
He played a leading role in campaigns to legalize same-sex marriage, approved in a 2015 referendum, and to repeal a ban on abortion, which passed in a vote in 2018. “I’m proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place,” Varadkar said in a resignation statement in Dublin last month.
Varadkar has faced growing discontent within Fine Gael. Ten of the party’s lawmakers, almost a third of the total, have announced they will not run for reelection. In March, voters rejected the government’s position in referendums on two constitutional amendments. Changes backed by Varadkar that would have broadened the definition of family and removed language about a woman’s role in the home were resoundingly defeated.
He also led Ireland during the years after Britain's 2016 decision to leave the European Union. Brexit had huge implications for Ireland, an EU member that shares a border with the UK's Northern Ireland. UK-Ireland relations were strained while hardcore Brexit-backer Boris Johnson was UK leader, but have steadied since the arrival of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
(with inputs from AP)
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