Higher education minister will become taoiseach in April after shock resignation of Leo Varadkar<\/b>
\nSimon Harris will become Ireland\u2019s youngest prime minister after the leadership race in his Fine Gael party ended without any other candidates coming forward.
The leadership became vacant after the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, announced his surprise resignation \u201cfor personal and political reasons\u201d last week.
Harris, 37, the higher education minister, was the only candidate when nominations closed at 1pm on Sunday, but he will not become taoiseach until 9 April when the Irish parliament, the D\u00e1il, resumes after its Easter break.
He will outline his leadership priorities on Sunday at a selection convention in Athlone, County Westmeath, to choose party candidates for the European parliament elections in June.
Harris is expected to say he wants the centre-right Fine Gael \u2013 which governs with fellow conservatives Fianna F\u00e1il and the Green party \u2013 to revert to core values including making work pay, being tough on law and order and supporting farmers.
Heather Humphreys, the social protection minister who is from a rural border constituency, is expected to be named as deputy leader of the party.
Harris has given no indication as to possible changes in Fine Gael ministerial ranks. But there is speculation that ministers who do not intend to stand at the next election will be dropped. It is widely believed that Simon Coveney will be a casualty in the reshuffle.
Varadkar resigned after taking responsibility for the government\u2019s failure in the recent referendums to update references to women and the family in the constitution.
Harris is widely seen as a good communicator, particularly on social media. He has held a number of ministerial portfolios including health at the start of the Covid pandemic.
Although widely praised for his handling of the crisis, he had to apologise for what he called an \u201cawful boo-boo\u201d after incorrectly saying in a radio interview there were 18 other coronaviruses before Covid-19.
Until Varadkar\u2019s resignation it had been assumed that Ireland\u2019s next general election would be in October after a giveaway budget in September but the leaders of Fianna F\u00e1il and the Greens say they believe the government should see out the remaining 12 months of its term.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il are trailing Sinn F\u00e9in, the leftwing nationalist party and Ireland\u2019s main opposition, in the polls but the political situation is very fluid.
Sinn F\u00e9in, once the political wing of the IRA, is the largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly.
A poll in the Sunday Business Post shows support for all three parties has fallen after the referendums, in which all three urged a yes vote to the proposed changes.
The Sinn F\u00e9in leader, Mary Lou McDonald, has demanded an immediate election but Harris is unlikely to grant her that. Instead he is expected to prioritise re-energising his party and focus on voters\u2019 key concerns, including housing.<\/p>\n