Simon Harris became Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister on Tuesday, succeeding party colleague Leo Varadkar with less than a year to boost the coalition government’s bid to halt a first electoral victory by left-wing Sinn Fein.
Pledged to fix housing crisis “once and for all”
Harris, who quit university aged 20 to work as a political aide, was elected to parliament at 24 and appointed to cabinet before he turned 30, used a speech at Saturday’s Fine Gael annual conference to spell out his focus on law and order, helping small business and reconnecting with rural voters.
Data on Monday showed asking prices for Irish homes rose by 6.5% year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest rate of growth since 2022. An opinion poll on Sunday showed housing remained voters’ top concern.
