Minister: Simon Harris

Simon Harris

Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science since June 2020. He also served as Minister for Justice from December 2022 to June 2023 to facilitate the maternity leave of Helen McEntee. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow constituency since 2011. He served as Minister for Health from 2016 to 2020 and Minister of State at the Department of Finance from 2014 to 2016.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 a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, Harris was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Health.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.

name	from	to	role	description	end	source	confidence
Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science	2020-08-02		Minister	Fine Gael; Appointed following formation of Government in June 2020. New Department was formally established on 2 August 2020		"https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2020-06-27/11/; https://president.ie/en/diary/details/president-appoints-members-of-government-2020; Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act 2020 (No. 10 of 2020)"	5
Department of Education and Skills	2020-06-27	2020-08-02	Minister	"Fine Gael; Appointed following formation of Government in June 2020. New separate Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was formally established on 2 August 2020"	Election Reshuffle	"Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act 2020 (No. 10 of 2020) https://www.education.ie/en/The-Department/Ministers/Ministers-for-Education-From-1921-to-Date.html; https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2020-06-27/11/; https://president.ie/en/diary/details/president-appoints-members-of-government-2020"	5
Department of Health (II)	2016-05-06	2020-06-27	Minister	Fine Gael	Election New Goverment	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Harris_(politician)	5
Department of Justice (II)	2022-12-17		Minister	Fine Gael; Department reassigned to Simon Harris for Minister McEntee's second period of maternity leave, following change of Taoiseach in December 2022		https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/simon-harris-to-take-on-justice-minister-role	5

Minister Information

Simon Harris