Simon Harris, the TikTok Taoiseach

I just saw a pic of him there recently; he looks like a wigged-up comedian paying George Dubya.

In fairness, I'm not terribly familiar with him but he seemingly leaves a trail of disaster behind him. I mean, the Dept of Health is a dumpster fire to start with; he seems to have gone at it with a full can of petrol. I don't have a problem with him being a dropout but I'm always sceptical of people who want to be politicians from a young age. And frankly, I read his explanation of the Covid 18 comments and he comes across as a Boris Johnson-type waffler.

Finally, as a proud Brayhead, I could never get behind the idea of a Greystoner running the country.

Fine Gael lost 16 seats in 2016.

Fine Gael lost 15 seats in 2020.

With all the TDs retiring, I see Fine Gael losing at least 15 more seats and hovering around 20.

I'd assume Coveney is probably lining himself up for something in Europe or some international body.

Director of Strategy in RTE. With a six figure golden handshake built in for ineptness.

No chance. Minimum 30 but likley more than that.

Just because a candidate dpesnt contest the seat doesnt mean the party will lose the seat. In fact, they are likley to retain it.

Most people vote for the party, not the candidate.

I hope he can surprise us and be some way successful and forward thinking. Hopefully he has more fight in him than Varadkar to get things done and change what needs to be changed to make the organs of state more efficient.

Giving this further thought. I think Martin should push for Taoiseach and let FG have the tainiste role

Completely agree. Simon Harris is a lot more sincere than Leo, whose opinion would change with the wind.

Simon Harris is also an intelligent guy and comes across well in most interviews, I'm not sure why some people are so hell bent on painting him as a waffler, an idiot, and for the life of me I can't understand the fixation on him dropping out of college.

I also wouldn't see it as fair to nail him over the health portfolio. That sector has been a mess for decades now. No one Minister can solve it, and no-one minister has had a tenure as Health Minister that anyone would call successful.

I'd say he's done a fairly decent job as Minister for Higher Education, true it's a fairly safe portfolio but he's highly visible, very active, and gets a lot of air time and generally gives good interviews about the general issues of the given day.

Now, obviously going from the Higher Education portfolio to Taoiseach is fairly extreme, but I'm not going to make any assumption and write him off before giving him a chance.

Not true and certainly not this time. You're dreaming buddy. FG will not be in power after GE.Next. 100%

Is mehole still holding onto his teacher position in the school. Robbing another of a permanent position.

Hopefully Trump will squish Harris into the ground when they meet like young kids do to snails. Then we can get a real Taoiseach.

Or a presidential nomination?

Not sure if we are getting an Irish version of John Major or Liz Truss. The former was a capable but bland figure before becoming UK PM but actually took to the role well and had unexpected success on the following general election. The latter was seen as a self serving political climber who was already operating above her capability when becoming PM and she duly delivered a showcase of incompetence.

My biggest concern, besides just being a FGer, would be his capability on the international stage. This is vitally important for the top job and his experience to date is almost entirely around domestic policies and issues. I just can’t picture him walking into a summit in Brussels and knowing how to handle himself with experienced leaders. Fortunately in the remaining tenure of this government, Ireland isn’t particularly in the crosshairs for any EU issues afaik