Who will be Ireland’s next prime minister?

The taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland, is typically elected by members of the Irish parliament, known as the Dail Éireann

Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced on Wednesday that he would step down as prime minister and the governing Fine Gael party leader in a surprise move, citing “personal and political” reasons.

Varadkar said he had asked for a new leader of the party to be elected ahead of Fine Gael’s annual conference on April 6, after which parliament would vote on that person succeeding him as prime minister after the Easter break.

Nobody has declared their intention to become the new leader, although Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney has ruled himself out.

Here are details of the leading potential contenders:

Simon Harris

The bookmakers’ favorite to succeed Varadkar, 37-year-old Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, saw his profile rise significantly when he was the country’s health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harris, who also served as a junior minister in the finance department from 2014 to 2016, would become the country’s youngest prime minister if elected. He would surpass Varadkar, who was 38 when he was first appointed in 2017.

Harris was elected a local councilor in his native county of Wicklow in 2009 and, at the age of 24, became a member of parliament two years later.

Paschal Donohoe

Donohoe has been a government minister and chair of the Eurozone finance ministers since 2020. In January 2023, he was reelected to a second three-year term as Eurogroup president.

The 49-year-old Dubliner has held one or other of Ireland’s two budgetary roles for the last eight years. He started as public spending minister in 2016, became finance minister a year later, and returned to the expenditure brief alone in 2022.

Known for his prudent approach to public finances, the politics and economics graduate worked for consumer products maker Procter & Gamble in Britain and Ireland for 10 years before his election to the Irish parliament in 2011.

Helen McEntee

If Justice Minister McEntee succeeds Varadkar, she will become Ireland’s first female prime minister and the first woman to lead Fine Gael or coalition partners Fianna Fail. Like fellow 37-year-old Harris, she would also be the youngest to be appointed to the role.

Ireland’s European affairs minister from 2017 to 2020 at the height of the Brexit talks, McEntee became a senior minister for the first time in 2020. She faced down calls to quit as justice minister following the outbreak of an unprecedented night of rioting in Dublin last November.

One of just 22 women appointed to cabinet since parliament first sat 105 years ago, McEntee became the first Irish cabinet minister to take maternity leave in 2021.

Source: Reuters 

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