‘Safe Simon’ keeps friends close and enemies even closer on his big day

Unlike every other proposal Simon Harris has brought to government, his cabinet reshuffle didn’t entirely leak out in advance. History in its own right. The softening-up exercises were well prepped in advance. Never not spinning, Harris appears to believe that trailing what he’s going to do in the press and avoiding a backlash means he has solved his problem. He hasn’t – and he’s mistaken. ‘Safe Simon’ chose the path of least resistance. He went with the least disruptive options that won’t upset anyone.

The inclusion of Peter Burke in the Cabinet was well-flagged. Burke was one of the first out of the blocks to back Harris for leader and is highly rated within the party.

He became Enterprise Minister, replacing the dearly departed Simon Coveney.

But Harris left everyone guessing on the destination for the second job available as his own replacement at higher education.

The shortlist was whittled down to three, with Hildegarde Naughton, Patrick O’Donovan and Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in contention.

And there were two cabinet seats technically up for grabs: the Harris vacancy and Government Chief Whip.

In recent days, though, there were indications that Harris wasn’t going to demote anyone, so Naughton, as sitting Government Chief Whip, was either going to stay put or be moved up.

She had possession of a cabinet seat on her side as she came on board in 2020, first as a super junior minister and then as whip, where she moved to under the rotating Taoiseach deal.

The geography also worked for her as she is based in Connacht. The rumours within the party on the morning of the reshuffle suggested she was in, but it was not certain.

From a seniority perspective, O’Donovan was in an extremely strong position. He has been a junior minister for the past eight years across three different briefs, serving under Enda Kenny and then Leo Varadkar.

He also had geography on his side as the most experienced junior minister in Munster, which has been left empty by Coveney’s retirement from ministerial life.

But he has also had a love-hate relationship with Harris over the years, including an infamous sting operation to show his colleague was a serial leaker.

Carroll MacNeill was in the tricky position of having geography against her as she is from the capital and Harris is talking about getting back in touch with the rural base of the party after the Varadkar regime was seen to be too Dublin-centric.

Nonetheless, she too is a rising star of the party and was prominent in the proceedings at the Fine Gael ard fheis last weekend. Harris needs her for the coming debate battles.

After a bit of teasing around Helen McEntee moving from Justice, Harris pulled back from that one.

He had options available to him in Burke and Carroll MacNeill, but both came with differing downsides.

Burke hasn’t any particular legal knowledge, but Carroll MacNeill has. She’s a lawyer, served as legal adviser to Kenny in the party leader’s office in opposition and was then a policy adviser for ministers Frances Fitzgerald, Alan Shatter and Eoghan Murphy.

The argument that there is only a short window for a new minister to bed in is slightly negated when it’s someone who already knows the workings of the Department of Justice.

But her ambition to be leader of Fine Gael also got in the way. The Dún Laoghaire TD was the only minister to even look seriously at putting up a challenge to Harris when Varadkar stood down.

Ultimately, she saw the writing on the wall like everyone else.

As a former minister close to Harris put it: “He can hardly put her into Justice and let her build herself up as an alternative leader of the party.”

On the one hand, law and order is a policy area Harris has flagged as in need of dramatic improvement. On the other, he doesn’t need to create a contender to his throne.

The backdown on McEntee meant that the reshuffle was going to be a predictable enough affair as Harris opted for all the obvious choices that don’t offend anyone.

Burke went up to Enterprise, which suits him with his accountancy background. O’Donovan slots into Higher Education. Naughton stays on as Chief Whip.

Carroll MacNeill was appointed as European Affairs Minister, which is a plum posting for a junior minister. In the past, ministers like Máire Geoghegan Quinn, Gay Mitchell, Dick Roche and Lucinda Creighton have commanded huge profiles in the role.

Harris is a novice on the European stage and will need someone on hand capable of articulating Fine Gael’s policy.

Unlike several of those in the Cabinet, Carroll MacNeill is capable of taking on opponents in open debate and throwing digs at Sinn Féin.

The Taoiseach’s junior ministers based alongside him in Government Buildings are the Government Chief Whip – and the European Affairs Minister.

Harris is keeping his friends close and his enemies closer.

The remainder of the junior ministers will be announced today and the Taoiseach has room to promote a few more new faces to the line-up.

In truth, he has to, because with all the resignations and retirements, there are few enough left.

Neale Richmond, a prominent supporter of the Harris for leader campaign, was left out of the cabinet arithmetic, with neither geography nor gender in his favour.

Harris is promising “integrity, honesty and a work rate that cannot be surpassed” along with bringing “new ideas, a new energy and a new empathy to public life”.

Actually, his trump card from the day was the public seeing him with his young family at his appointment as Taoiseach, which is a real reminder of his age, even bringing along his nana.

Beyond the facile omnipresence on social media, you can’t beat a moment of genuine relatability of his son Cillian calling out “Daddy” as he made his inaugural speech as Taoiseach.

“I promise being your dad will remain my most important job,” he said.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who was almost the same age as Harris when he was first appointed to the Cabinet, offered some sage advice to the latest incumbent of the Taoiseach’s office: “In the immediate aftermath, things might get a bit more challenging and rockier.”

By the way, when Bertie Ahern became Taoiseach after the 1997 general election in which he ran with the slogan “A young leader for a young country”, he was nearly a decade older than Harris is now.

Harris has been on a rollercoaster ride for the past three weeks since Varadkar’s shock announcement of his departure. He has been on the upward curve and now he’s going to experience some downward slides.

In his cabinet selections, he has aimed to balance the need for renewal with the requirement for stability. He will feel the replacement of Varadkar and Coveney will represent something of a changing of the guard.

But the public still have to be convinced the change of faces will result in a change of direction.

‘The rest of the junior ministers will be announced today and the Taoiseach has room to promote more new faces’