Opinion: How will rural Ireland fare under the new Taoiseach?
Simon Harris speaks to the media in Athlone after being confirmed as the new leader of Fine Gael. Picture date: Sunday March 24, 2024.
The shockwaves are still reverberating since Leo Varadkar’s bombshell announcement last week that he was stepping down as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.
The dust had barely settled on the unexpected news when his successor was announced in the shape of Simon Harris, who becomes the party’s new leader and will shortly be appointed the country’s Taoiseach.
Since being elected in 2011 at the age of 24, the Wicklow TDs rise through the ranks has been as swift as his predecessor. Even in the early stages of his political career, Harris was being tipped as a future Fine Gael leader.
However, his ascent to party leader and incoming Taoiseach could not have been anticipated by anyone, even Harris himself, who has been shown to be a very shrewd operator.
There are plenty of big ticket issues that he now has to address - many that the current Government is struggling to grapple with such as housing, health and immigration.
For many rank and file Fine Gael members too, Harris also has the challenge of returning the party to its traditional values. Michael Ring, his party colleague, a former minister and always a strong voice for Rural Ireland, sent out a clear message to his new leader.
Ring believes that Fine Gael has been "too left for too long" and warned Harris that he would pay a big price at the next election unless he returns the party to its traditional values. In doing so, the Mayo TD wants a big move away from what he calls “left wing policies”, most notably on social issues.
In his appeal to Harris to return to these traditional values, Ring highlighted law and order, public services, housing and the need to support small businesses and farmers among some of the key priorities. Outside of Fine Gael, these are also issues that resonate strongly right across rural Ireland.
It’s very clear that the incoming Taoiseach must also reach out to these communities who have felt that the Government has become increasingly out of touch with people’s day to day concerns – concerns which have taken a backseat because of a preoccupation with issues they feel are of no relevance to them.
So, the gauntlet has clearly been laid down now for Simon Harris to talk to not just his party’s grassroots but rural communities right across the country.
