College dropout who became HE minister set to be premier

Simon Harris, who rose from college dropout to become the first holder of the full cabinet post of minister for further and higher education, research, innovation and science, is set to become the next Irish Taoiseach (prime minister).

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the 37-year-old will succeed Leo Varadkar who surprised the country on Wednesday by announcing his retirement just two months before European and local elections and less than a year before the next general election.

Harris has kept up a steady stream of announcements and innovations since he was appointed in June 2020.

He’s popular with journalists and is especially adept on social media which is a necessity with an electorate leaning towards the possibility of a Sinn Féin led government next time round.

He has assiduously courted the public and his colleagues in the Fine Gael parliamentary party who are in a three-party coalition with the Greens and their traditional opponents in Fianna Fail.

Harris initially studied journalism and French at the Dublin Institute of Technology but dropped out in first year to pursue politics full time. He rose quickly through the ranks and was elected to the Dail (lower house of Parliament) in 2011, becoming a junior minister in 2014 and minister for health two years later.

As minister for health he was dogged by underfunding, overcrowding in hospitals and long waiting lists. Then COVID struck and his leadership during that difficult time won considerable praise.

When a new government was formed four years ago – with the Taoiseach’s post rotating between Fine Gael leader Varadkar and Micheál Martin from Fianna Fáil – the ambitious Harris was appointed to the new higher and further education portfolio.

He secured additional funds for the sector, some of which went on reducing student fees and on giving more supports to access students and those with disabilities.

He continued the policy of creating Technological Universities (TUs) from mergers of institutes of technology; there are now five of them. The upgrading is popular politically but there have been complaints both from traditional universities and the new TUs about insufficient investment to cater for the increasing student population.

Unified tertiary system

The minister has also championed growth in further education. He has created a range of additional apprenticeships as an alternative to going to university. He promotes the notion of a unified tertiary education system, integrating further and higher education, but it will take some time to fully achieve it.

The universities assume that the full ministry for higher and further education will be retained in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle. There are fears, however, that a Sinn Féin led government after the next general election might subsume the sector back into an overall education ministry.

Sinn Féin, which is still the most popular party with voters despite declines in recent opinion polls, has not outlined its views on a separate ministry for the sector.

While most observers admire Harris’ energy and communications skills, he has yet to spell out his vision for the country and show his mettle on the international stage.