No shocks from new Taoiseach as radical shake-up of ministers too risky just 11 months from vote

We are now officially in the Simon Harris era of Irish politics. The 37-year-old Wicklow man became the country’s taoiseach just after lunchtime yesterday. Leo Varadkar’s shock exit from the centre stage paved the way for Harris to effortlessly slide into office at a relatively young age.

However, it would be unfair to suggest he is an accidental taoiseach. Harris put in the hard yards.

He developed relationships with parliamentary members in recent years which ensured there was no contest when the time came to succeed Varadkar.

Paschal Donohoe didn’t put his name forward, neither did Simon Coveney, and Heather Humphreys was bought off with the promise of becoming Fine Gael deputy leader.

He secured the backing of seven Independent TDs to become Taoiseach, which meant the vote sailed through the Dáil too.

However, it appears the Harris idea of new energy looks awfully like Varadkar’s idea of new energy. He left all of Varadkar’s cabinet ministers in their current portfolios and only filled positions vacated by himself and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney.

Step forward, Higher Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan and

Enterprise Minister Peter Burke. It was expected that O’Donovan would end up in the chief whip’s office to allow Harris to elevate Hildegarde Naughton to a full cabinet position. However, it was felt O’Donovan wouldn’t be a great fit for a role that requires the office holder to bring people together.

The Taoiseach told the Dáil Burke will use his “passion and drive” to develop measures to ease the burden on small businesses. O’Donovan, he said, has been tasked with continuing the work of slashing college fees. The two ministers certainly don’t have a radical programme of work which will make voters rush out to vote for Fine Gael but Harris is bound by the Programme for Government, as Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin pointed out.

Harris pitched himself as a “taoiseach for all” which is a nice sentiment but most people would take it as granted that the leader of the country would have the best intentions for all citizens at heart when making decisions and policies.

However, it is a very different messaging from that of Varadkar, who pledged to look after the “people who get up early in the morning” when he was elected as Fine Gael leader.

The big reshuffle news, whether shocking or not, was the decision by Harris to leave Helen McEntee in the Department of Justice.

In the Dáil, he said he intended to “prioritise law and order, making our streets safe and ending the scourge of antisocial behaviour in our communities”.

He believes McEntee is the minister to do this. How she will do it? Essentially, she will continue to do what she was doing anyway. Bringing in tougher sentences for serious crimes, giving gardaí body-cams and increasing prison spaces.

He also promised a fairer and firmer immigration system. Yes, you’ve heard that one before too.

Meanwhile, Heather Humphreys remains in the Department of Social Protection and Paschal Donohoe remains in the Department of Public Expenditure.

A wholesale wipe-out of Fine Gael cabinet ministers would have also raised eyebrows.

From day one, it was clear Humphreys and Donohoe were going nowhere. Donohoe due to his standing in Europe and beyond, and Humphreys due to her standing in Fine Gael and beyond.

It would be naive for a taoiseach facing just 11 months in office to believe he could appoint a brand new team and stably run the country.

It is clear from the reshuffle that Harris plans to mix his “new energy” with experience. It doesn’t give the Government a fresh look but means it is less likely to become engulfed in needless scandal due to the naivety of a novice minister.

So where to now for Fine Gael? Under Varadkar, it always appeared that the party had booked a one-way ticket to opposition after the next general election.

Harris won’t want to be the taoiseach with the shortest time in office in the history of the State. A second go at the job, whether it be on a rotation basis or not, after the country goes to the polls next year, will certainly be on his radar.

Keeping cabinet collegiality with his own team and his partners in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party will be important if he wants to give the current administration another chance at office.

The decision not to shake up the Fine Gael ministries significantly will help with cabinet cohesion but could spark some early backlash in his own backbench ranks.