After an initial period on the backbenches as the Baby of the Dáil, Harris was promoted to the position of Minister of State at the Department of Finance in 2014.
Following the formation of the Government of the 33rd Dáil in June 2020, Harris was appointed as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.[5]
Early life
Harris was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, in 1986. He is the eldest of three children born to Bart and Mary Harris.[6][7] A great-uncle of his was a Fine Gael Councillor in Dún Laoghaire.[8]
Harris was educated at St. David's Holy Faith Secondary School, in Greystones, and first became involved in local politics as a fifteen-year-old when he set up the North Wicklow Triple A Alliance to help the families of children with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit disorder. As a Junior Certificate student, he lobbied politicians to get better facilities to allow children with such disabilities to be integrated into mainstream education.[9]
As a councillor, he served as chairperson of the County Wicklow Joint Policing Committee and Chairperson of the HSE Regional Health Forum. He was a member of Wicklow County Council's Housing Strategic Policy Committee and Wicklow Vocational Educational Committee.
Harris was elected to Dáil Éireann in 2011, taking the third seat in the Wicklow constituency.[11] As the youngest deputy in the 31st Dáil, he was selected by Fine Gael to nominate Enda Kenny for Taoiseach, making his maiden speech.
Despite being a first-time backbench TD, Harris served as a member of the high-profile Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, and Reform.[12][13] He was also a member of the Oireachtas cross-party group on Mental Health, and introduced the Mental Health (Anti-Discrimination) Bill 2013, in June 2013.
During a period of intense flooding throughout the country during the winter of 2015 and 2016, Harris was forced to deny accusations that the government had left €13m in the budget for flood relief works in 2015, unspent while he had also secured funding for flood defences in his own constituency.[15]
Minister for Health
Harris was appointed to the cabinet, on 6 May 2016, when he became Minister for Health.[16][17] Some of the immediate problems facing him in his new post included over-crowding in emergency departments and long waiting lists, as well as soaring demands and huge cost overruns.
In his first year in the job, Harris faced the possibility of 30,000 health workers and 40,000 nurses going on strike.[18]
These developments occurred the same week that the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation announced that there had been a record 612 patients admitted for care on trolleys in hospitals around the country on the morning on 3 January 2017.[19] The planned strikes were later called off.
In 2016, Harris also contributed to the "A Healthy Weight for Ireland – Obesity Policy and Action Plan 2016–2025". A policy outlining "the Government's desire to assist its people to achieve better health, and in particular to reduce the levels of overweight and obesity". Harris claims that "the approach taken in developing this policy was based on the Government framework for improved health and wellbeing of Ireland".
In 2017, Harris was accused of "practising hypocrisy" over his stance on the Sisters of Charity's controversial ownership of the National Maternity Hospital.[20] The controversy saw the resignations of Dr. Peter Boylan and Prof. Chris Fitzpatrick, from the board of the hospital.[21][22] The Religious Sisters of Charity later relinquished ownership of three hospitals: St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, St. Vincent's Private, and St. Michael's.
On 26 April 2018, the HSE confirmed that 206 women developed cervical cancer after having a screening test which was subsequently deemed to be potentially inaccurate on lookback, once a woman presented with a confirmed diagnosis of Cervical Cancer and given the known limitations of screening using smear technology.[24] In the resulting scandal, Harris was criticised for his handling of the matter on multiple occasions.[25][26][27][28][29]
On 20 February 2019, Simon Harris survived a motion of no-confidence over his handling of the new National Children's Hospital rising costs (over €2 billion[30][31]). The motion was voted down by 58 votes to 53 with 37 abstentions.[32][33][34]
On 4 May 2022, he published "Funding our Future", a new policy on sustainably funding higher education and reducing the cost of third-level education for students and families.[37]
Following Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach on 17 December 2022, he was re-appointed to the same position, as well as Minister for Justice on a temporary basis during the maternity leave of Helen McEntee.[39]
Personal life
Harris is the eldest of three children; he has a younger sister and a younger brother. His brother Adam, is the CEO of the national autism charity foundation AsIAm, who was himself diagnosed with autism at a young age. Harris has credited his brother for inspiring him to get involved in autism advocacy early on in his political career.
Harris suffers from Crohn's disease.[40]
In 2017, he married Caoimhe Wade, a cardiac nurse.[41] They have one daughter and one son.[42]
References
^"Simon Harris". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
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