Who could be Ireland’s next taoiseach?

One day on from Leo Varadkar’s resignation as taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, support is mounting for Simon Harris, education minister, to be his successor.

Nominations for a new leader opened at 10:00 local time on Thursday and will close on Monday at 13:00. If there is a contest the winner will be announced on 5 April.

Simon Harris garnered the support of at least 15 senators, MEPs and TDs by Thursday morning – well above the six he needed (10% of the parliamentary party).

Mr Varadkar pledged his unequivocal support to his successor during a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday night.

The Irish prime minister said he would remain as a TD, but he hoped his replacement at the top of the Irish government would take up office shortly after the Easter recess.

So who is in the running for Fine Gael’s top job?

The 37-year-old Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was the early favourite with many bookmakers and garnered a healthy roster of backers before nominations even opened.

Fine Gael Minister of State Neale Richmond told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme that he would “absolutely be backing” Mr Harris and called him “the best person for the job”.

He would be another young leader, following Leo Varadkar who was appointed taoiseach aged 38.

Mr Harris was the youngest member of the 31st Dáil at the age of 24 and became health minister in 2016.

There he led the department during a change in Ireland’s abortion law and at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as emergency lockdown measures were introduced.

He was the boy wonder who dropped out of college to become a TD – he now stands a real chance of becoming Taoiseach.

Wicklow’s Simon Harris says he was inspired by former Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny to get involved in politics.

Harris was distressed by the lack of services for his younger autistic brother when Kenny told him that joining politics was the only way to make real change.

A go-getter, he went for it.

He went on to nominate Kenny for Taoiseach at the age of 24 in his maiden speech in 2011.

The one-time baby of the house has had a meteoric rise. His career highpoint was overseeing the Repeal the Eighth referendum and subsequent abortion legislation as minister for health.

He grew in popularity during his tenure during the first half of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Post 2020, some suspected his “demotion” to Minister for Higher Education was due to how ambitious he had become and perhaps Leo Varadkar sensed a threat.

Mr Harris was one of the first Irish politicians to embrace TikTok with some now dubbing him the first “TikTok taoiseach”.

It’s all to play for with nominations open till next week, but in this racing season, Harris is an odds-on favourite.

Aside from Harris, another figure who could be in the contest for the leadership role is Paschal Donohoe – the current Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

The 49-year-old Dubliner is a former finance and transport minister.

He has also been president of the Eurogroup since 2020.

The informal body brings together ministers from the eurozone area to discuss issues relating to the currency.

Heather Humphreys has served in various cabinet positions since 2014 and is currently the Minister for Rural and Community Development as well as Minister for Social Protection.

Born in the village of Drum, County Monaghan, in 1963, Ms Humphreys is Protestant and before politics was manager of a credit union.

Speaking ahead of the Easter Rising commemorations in 2016 she said, “Given my background as a Protestant and an Ulsterwoman who is a proud Irish republican, I appreciate the need to respect the differing traditions on this island.”

If she became taoiseach she would be the first Protestant to hold the post.

Helen McEntee was also on the prospective list for taoiseach.

However she has said that she will not stand for the leadership of Fine Gael.

She told LMFM Radio on Thursday morning that it was “not the right time” for her.

Ms McEntee also said that she will not rule out running for the leadership role again in the future, and that she wanted to see a contest for the next leader.

The 37-year-old Navan native has been a TD since 2013 and is currently the justice minister.

She became a TD at the age of 26, succeeding her father after he took his own life.

Last year she survived a motion of no confidence following the Dublin riots in November, while there has also been a heated debate about hate speech legislation.