Our Harris pic is ‘one for the history books’

AN Irish Daily Mail photograph of Simon Harris taking a brief respite from the coronavirus crisis has gone viral, receiving nearly 18,000 likes online.

Taken by Mail photographer Fran Veale, the picture was shared by the Health Minister himself, right, who joked: ‘The moment I remembered I left on the immersion! (We need the occasional and brief smile to help us in these difficult days). Keep well everyone.

‘We will get through this together. Thank you all for all you’re doing’

The image shows the minister standing behind a black metal railing as he closes his eyes for a moment’s reprieve and reflection between Health Department and media briefings.

He was attending a briefing with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Monday morning at the office of Alone, a charity for elderly people, in Dublin when he briefly closed his eyes and took a breath amid the ongoing crisis.

The decisive moment was captured by Mr Veale and has since been widely shared online as many people identified with the striking image of him taking a brief reprieve from a crisis which has left the nation stunned and worried.

Praised by some commentators as an ‘iconic’ image and one to be remembered by history, it was liked over 14,000 times on the minister’s Twitter account – and thousands more times on other social media pages.

The singer Hozier was among those who gave it a like, while author Sheila O’Flanagan was one of the 400 people who commented under the minister’s post, writing: ‘Am very proud of all our politicians right now.’