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Newly-declared Fine Gael leader Simon Harris speaking at a convention in Athlone, central Ireland on March 24, 2024, after becoming de facto prime minister-in-waiting. The Irish Parliament on Tuesday confirmed Simon Harris as the country's new prime minister, making him the youngest-ever holder of the position. Harris succeeds Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach — Irish for leader — following a 88-69 vote by lawmakers. Harris, formerly an education minister, ran unopposed to succeed Varadkar as leader of the center-right Fine Gael party. At 37, Harris will be the youngest-ever Taoiseach, taking that record from Varadkar who was 38 when he assumed the post in 2017.
Persons: Simon Harris, Harris, Leo Varadkar, — Irish, , Michael D, Higgins, Varadkar Organizations: Fine Gael, Irish, Palestinian, Hamas, European Union, Reuters Locations: Athlone, Ireland, Gaza
Simon Harris becomes Ireland’s youngest-ever leader
  + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +7 min
CNN —Simon Harris has become the youngest-ever prime minister of Ireland, officially taking office in Dublin on Tuesday after Leo Varadkar suddenly stepped down last month. Harris, 37, ran unopposed to replace Varadkar as leader of the ruling Fine Gael party, and the final formalities of his rise to power were completed in the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament. And we are seeing innocent children, women, and men being starved and slaughtered,” Harris told lawmakers in the Irish parliament. The son of a taxi driver, born in eastern Ireland, Harris studied journalism and French at a Dublin university but dropped out to instead focus on politics. As health minister, Harris was prominent when Ireland voted to legalize abortion.
Persons: CNN — Simon Harris, Leo Varadkar, Harris, Varadkar, Sinn Fein, Israel, , ” Harris, Fine, , Brian Lawless, Simon Harris ”, “ chillax, “ Didn’t, chillax, , Jennifer Bray, Enda Kenny, Harris’s Organizations: CNN, Ireland, Fine Gael, Irish Republican Army, Irish, Hot Press, Varadkar, Twitter, , Sky News Locations: Dublin, Ireland’s, Ireland, Gaza, , Northern Ireland
CNN —Ireland’s governing party Fine Gael has named Simon Harris as its new leader, paving the way for him to succeed former Prime Minister Leo Varadkar as the youngest Taoiseach in Irish history at age 37. “It’s the absolute honour of my life to formally be here with you today in Athlone to accept the leadership of this great party, of our great party,” said Harris in his acceptance speech at a Fine Gael party conference in the Irish county of West Meath on Sunday. Simon Harris embraces his family after being announced as the new leader of Fine Gael. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters“I want to thank every single person in this room and every single community you come from across Ireland. He also served as the country’s health minister from May 2016 to June 2020, according to Fine Gael’s website.
Persons: Simon Harris, Leo Varadkar, Varadkar, , , Harris, Clodagh Kilcoyne Organizations: CNN, Fine Gael, West Meath, Reuters Locations: Athlone, Irish, West, Ireland
CNN —Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sent shockwaves through Ireland when he candidly announced last week that he was “no longer the best person” to lead his country. Irish Times political correspondent Jennifer Bray was given less than an hour’s notice of the surprise statement from the taoiseach on Wednesday. His successor, largely tipped to be Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, will need to lead the center-right political party, Fine Gael, against a fired-up opposition. The 37-year-old who rose to prominence during his spell as health minister during the pandemic is considered by many to be a “mirror image” to Varadkar, Murphy said. Mary Lou McDonald, president of opposition party Sinn Fein, which has been making steady gains since 2020.
Persons: Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s, Varadkar, Joe Biden, Jennifer Bray, Bray, ” Gary Murphy, , ” Murphy, , Simon Harris, Murphy, Varadkar “, Boris Johnson “, resoundingly, Nick Bradshaw, Paschal Donohoe, Harris, Tik Tok, “ Simon Harris, ” Bray, Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein, Charles McQuillan, Sinn Féin Organizations: CNN —, Israel, Irish Times, Wednesday, CNN, Dublin City University, Higher Education, Fine Gael, Irish, Catholic Church Locations: shockwaves, Ireland, Gaza, Irish, Brussels, United Kingdom, Bray, Varadkar
President Biden on Sunday used what is normally a festive St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House to acknowledge the growing international concern, including among the Irish, over the humanitarian situation of Palestinians amid Israel’s military action in Gaza. “The taoiseach and I agree about the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza and get the cease-fire deal,” Mr. Biden said alongside Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, or taoiseach, an outspoken critic of Israel’s war against Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. But during his trip to the United States, Mr. Varadkar made clear that he would raise his concerns over the war in the Middle East with the American president. The prime minister in a way was speaking to a domestic audience back in Ireland, which, given its own history of resistance to British rule, is one of the more supportive European nations to Palestinians. Ireland was the first European Union nation to call for a Palestinian state and the last to permit the opening of a residential Israeli embassy.
Persons: Biden, , ” Mr, Leo Varadkar, Varadkar Organizations: White, Irish American, shamrocks, Guinness, European Union Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States, Ireland, Palestinian
There will still be shamrocks this year, but Israel’s war in Gaza is lending a darker backdrop to the occasion. While he rebuffed calls by some Irish politicians to boycott the annual White House stop, he has made plain the Gaza war lends fresh urgency to this year’s talks. “I’ll use that opportunity to put across Ireland’s perspective on this and tell them how Irish people feel. Last year, Varadkar declared Biden “unmistakably a son of Ireland” and announced the president’s forthcoming visit to the island. Barry’s opposition to Biden’s foreign policy predated the war in Gaza; he boycotted Biden’s address to the Dáil in April.
Persons: Patrick’s, Joe Biden, , Leo Varadkar, Biden, , , Varadkar, “ I’m, Ireland ”, Israel ”, Jane Ohlmeyer, Arthur Balfour, Mick Barry, Biden’s, Michelle O’Neill, O’Neill, Sinn Fein, Carter, Clinton Organizations: Washington CNN, shamrocks, Irish, RTE, White, Muredach’s, Hamas, Trinity College Dublin, Socialist Party, Capitol, Northern, St, , Irish Republican Army, Biden Locations: United States, Ireland, Gaza, Boston, St, Ballina ., Israel, Dublin, Palestine, British, Ireland’s, Northern Ireland, Northern
Voters in Ireland have rejected two proposed changes to the country’s Constitution that would have removed language about women’s duties being in the home and broadened the definition of family beyond marriage. The results, announced on Saturday, were an unexpected defeat for equality campaigners and for Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, or prime minister. Mr. Varadkar, speaking late Saturday afternoon after most of the votes had been counted, said that it was clear that the proposals had been defeated, and that the government respected the results. “As head of government and on behalf of the government, we accept responsibility for the result,” he said. “It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes,’ and we clearly failed to do so.”
Persons: Leo Varadkar, Locations: Ireland
It remains unclear how or when a ground offensive would unfold, and that uncertainty is adding to anxiety among Palestinians in Rafah about where to go and what to do. Israeli military action in Rafah “has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction,” the government said in its request to the World Court. “We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah… We cannot stand by and let this continue,” he said. Palestinians inspect damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on February 12, 2024. They told us this area was safe… they told us Rafah was safe.
Persons: Leo Varadkar, Peter Lerner, , “ We’re, … We’re, We’ve, Mo’men, Martin Griffiths, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, , Lerner, Gaza ”, UN’s Griffiths, Ashraf Amra, Antonio Tajani, King Abdullah II, Israel “, Varadkar, Karim Khan, Daniel Hagari, Abed Rahim Khatib, Khan Younis, We’re, Jarwan, ” Nahla, Netanyahu, ” Netanyahu Organizations: CNN, United Nations, International Court, Reuters, ” United, Israel Defense Forces, Residents, Getty, Criminal, European Union, Foreign Ministry, Criminal Court, ICC, Palestine Red Crescent Society, Israeli Air Force, World Health Organization Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Gazan, ” Israel, Palestinian, ” United Nations, Hamas’s, South Africa, Rafah “, Deir, Balah, Deir al, Anadolu, European, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, China, Italian, , Palestine, Al
John Bruton, a former Irish prime minister who led an alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition and played a central role with Britain in an effort to secure peace in Northern Ireland after decades of strife, died on Tuesday in Dublin. His family said his death, in a hospital, followed a long illness; they did not specify the cause. Feted in death across the political spectrum in Britain and Ireland, Mr. Bruton had a long career in the center-right Fine Gael party. He was his country’s prime minister, or Taoiseach (pronounced TEE-shack) in Irish, from 1994 to 1997, a time when Britain was led by Prime Minister John Major of the Conservative Party. The governments in Dublin and London had long acknowledged that they each played a major role in navigating the treacherous sectarian and political divisions of warring Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Persons: John Bruton, Bruton, John Major Organizations: Rainbow Coalition, Britain, Fine Gael, Conservative Party Locations: Irish, Northern Ireland, Dublin, European, Washington, Britain, Ireland, London
CNN —Israeli President Isaac Herzog discussed the release of hostages, the likelihood of a longer truce and had some sharp words for the Irish PM in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday. So far 41 hostages have been released in the first two days of the truce, with a third group expected on Sunday. Herzog was speaking ahead of a third release of hostages on Sunday, which saw 17 more people released. Speaking about his post-war vision for Gaza, Herzog described “some sort of a formation that is effective enough, but also represents the various interests.”“This is the vision. Irish prime ministerAmong those freed Saturday was a nine-year-old girl with joint Irish and Israeli citizenship, Emily Hand.
Persons: Isaac Herzog, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Herzog –, , Herzog, , Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Joe Biden, Biden’s, Emily Hand, Leo Varadkar, ” Herzog, God she’s, wasn’t, Organizations: CNN, Irish PM, Hamas, Irish Taoiseach Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States, European
Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians and civilian structures including hospitals as shields; Hamas and several hospitals in the enclave have denied that. Since Saturday, Israel has opened up a humanitarian corridor for four hours each day, allowing Gazans in the north to leave for the south. Eyewitnesses described multiple explosions in central and southern Gaza on Tuesday morning that they said were caused by Israeli airstrikes. Yet Netanyahu insists he will not permit a ceasefire until Hamas releases the hundreds of hostages it still holds in Gaza. It’s not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
Persons: Alexander de Croo, Leo Varadkar, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Mira Ziydeh, Joe Biden, Biden, Israel, , It’s, John Kirby, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mark Regev, CNN’s Abeer Salman, Eyad Kourdi, Niamh Kennedy, Andrew Carey Organizations: Jerusalem CNN —, UN, Israel Defense Forces, IDF, , CNN, UNRWA, ABC, National Security Locations: Jerusalem, Gaza, Belgium, Belgian, Brussels, Latin America, Africa, Israel, United States, United Kingdom, Israel’s, Ramallah, , Gazan, Deir, Wadi Gaza, Southern Gaza
REUTERS/Juan Medina/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsDUBLIN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday described Israel's actions in Gaza as "something approaching revenge", in some of the strongest criticism of Israel by a leader of a European Union member state. Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel. And I don't think that's how Israel will guarantee future freedom and future security," he said. Asked by a journalist whether Israel's actions were war crimes, Varadkar said "that's not for me to determine." The Gaza war has highlighted foreign policy divisions within the EU.
Persons: Leo Varadkar, Juan Medina, Israel, Varadkar, that's, Conor Humphries, Christina Fincher Organizations: Ireland's, REUTERS, Rights, Irish, European Union, RTE, United Nations, Thomson Locations: Granada, Spain, Gaza, Israel, South Korea, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Western
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a meeting with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar (not pictured) at Horodetskyi House, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 19, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsKYIV, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine has received two IRIS-T air defense systems from Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his address on Thursday. "Two new IRIS-T launchers have been delivered to Ukraine. This is a powerful and much-needed air defense system," he said and thanked Germany for supplying the weapons. Reporting by Nick Starkov in Kyiv, writing by Maria Tsvetkova in New York, editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Leo Varadkar, Clodagh, Nick Starkov, Maria Tsvetkova, Chris Reese Organizations: Ireland's, REUTERS, Rights, IRIS, Thomson Locations: Horodetskyi, Ukraine, Kyiv, Germany, Ukrainian, New York
London CNN —Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay tribute to the late Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor on Tuesday, cheering, clapping and throwing flowers as her funeral cortege drove past her old house in Bray, County Wicklow, in Ireland. O’Connor, known for her pure voice and political activism, died last month at the age of 56. Whilst O’Connor had a public funeral procession, her burial was held privately. People react as fans gather outside late Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor's former home to say their last goodbye to her on the day of her funeral procession. Clodagh Kilcoyne/ReutersO’Connor was known for her political activism and many of the crowd at the funeral procession followed suit.
Persons: Sinéad O’Connor, O’Connor, Sinéad O'Connor, Mick Hutson, Redferns, Bob Geldof, Bono, Leo Varadkar, Michael D, Higgins, Sabina, ” “, Sinéad O'Connor's, Clodagh Kilcoyne, Reuters O’Connor, Shaykh Dr Umar Al, Qadri, X, Al, O’Connor “, Organizations: London CNN, Volkswagen, RTE, Taoiseach, Irish, CNN, Ireland, Reuters, Islamic, of Ireland Locations: Irish, Bray , County Wicklow, Ireland, Palestine, Bray, Dublin, United States
Biden joined Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other members of Congress for the traditional St. Patrick's Day Friends of Ireland Luncheon. Biden and McCarthy are set to meet at 5:30 p.m. WASHINGTON — White House negotiators and representatives of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy resumed debt ceiling talks Monday morning, as President Joe Biden prepared to meet with McCarthy face to face with only 10 days to go until the U.S. risks default. Biden is hoping to reach a debt limit deal that would push the next deadline out past the 2024 presidential election. But House Republicans, who so far have endorsed only a one-year hike, say that if Biden wants more time, then he will need to agree to even more cuts.
REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneBELFAST, April 19 (Reuters) - The Irish and British prime ministers said on Wednesday that they were open to considering reforming Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord, but that any debate could only happen when the powersharing government underpinning it was restored. That, coupled with the rise of the Alliance party, which identifies as neither nationalist or unionist, has sparked calls for an overhaul of a political architecture that the largest unionist party, the DUP, has boycotted for more than a year. "I think it's the shared view of the British and Irish government that there is a conversation that needs to happen about reforming the Good Friday Agreement. No agreement should be set in stone forever," Varadkar told reporters after an event to mark 25 years of the peace accord. "I urge you to work with us to get Stormont (Northern Ireland's assembly) up and running again," Sunak told unionist politicians.
Takeaways from Biden's trip to Ireland
  + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kevin Liptak | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +10 min
Biden’s trip came as he nears a decision on running again for president. “I own property in Ireland, I’m not going to Ireland,” former President Donald Trump said during Biden’s trip. Patrick Semansky/APDiplomatic legacy: ‘Keep the peace’White House officials made little attempt at ascribing major policy objectives to Biden’s trip. Kevin Lamarque/ReutersBiden makes Ireland visit a family affairMore than anything, Biden’s trip this week had the feeling of a family spring break. Throughout the sometimes-rainy trip, Biden kept his head dry with a baseball cap from the Beau Biden Foundation.
The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100. Biden, on a three-day tour of Ireland, said he was not overly concerned about the leak. "There's a full blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department, and they're getting close but I don't have an answer," Biden told reporters. "I'm not concerned about the leak, I'm concerned that it happened but there is nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of." A South Korean presidential official said on Sunday the country was aware of reports about the leaked documents and planned to discuss "issues raised" with Washington.
A day earlier, Biden jokingly questioned why his predecessors left Ireland for a better life as he visited a local market and deli in Dundalk. In his talks with Irish leaders Thursday, Biden is expected to discuss a number of global issues, including the war in Ukraine. Later, Biden will address the Irish Parliament in a speech expected to touch on the close ties between the US and Ireland, both political and personal. Three years later, Ireland voted decisively to end what, at the time, was one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the world. The Irish identity Biden is exploring this week with visits to two ancestral hometowns is intrinsically linked to his own Catholicism.
He will give a speech in Northern Ireland on Wednesday, before traveling south of the border to the Republic of Ireland, where he will remain until Friday. Northern Ireland is part of the U.K. while the Republic of Ireland is a separate nation state that remains part of the EU. "Whilst it's positive in many ways — particularly on movement of food and medicines between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it really removes a lot of the frictions — it doesn't deal with all the problems of the Northern Ireland protocol, so I'm afraid it's unfinished business," Villiers told CNBC's Tania Bryer. Clinton became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Northern Ireland and the first to appoint a U.S. special regional envoy. Though Biden is expected to use the trip to promote a return to functioning government in Stormont, his previous support for the Northern Ireland Protocol has drawn criticism from DUP politicians.
BELFAST—In mid-February, Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell finished coaching his son’s soccer team and was putting soccer balls into the trunk of his car in Omagh, Northern Ireland, when two masked gunmen shot him multiple times in front of his son. British authorities suspect that pro-Irish republicans targeted Mr. Caldwell, who remains hospitalized. On Tuesday, U.S. President Biden will travel to the British province to celebrate the deal’s anniversary along with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar . Mr. Biden, whose ancestors were Irish, will hail the deal that brought an uneasy peace between a mostly Protestant community that sees itself as British and wants to remain part of the U.K., and a mostly Catholic community that endured decades of discrimination and which views itself as Irish and aspires to see a united Ireland. Within hours of Mr. Caldwell’s shooting, the leaders of the province’s five main political parties—which include pro-British unionist parties and pro-Irish nationalist ones—condemned the attack.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in honor of Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2023. President Joe Biden on Monday issued his first veto since taking office, rejecting a bipartisan measure that would nullify a new administration rule for retirement plans. In the Senate vote, Democratic Sens. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., introduced the measure in February, about two months after the Labor Department issued the investment rule. Following the Senate vote, Barr tweeted: "President Biden should abandon the radical climate activists and join us in putting middle-class savers ahead of politics."
The talks follow weeks of media speculation that a deal was close with the EU to revise the Northern Ireland protocol, which was agreed when Britain left the bloc three years ago. Speaking earlier in Munich, Sunak said a new deal was "by no means done," adding that Brussels and London had an understanding of how the problems could be resolved. "We're working through them (the issues) hard and we will work through them intensely with the EU, but we are by no means done." Sunak reassured the audience at the conference that Britain wanted to have a positive relationship with the bloc. Reporting by Muvija M and Kate Holton; Editing by Jane Merriman and David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar talking to the media outside the Stormont hotel on Jan. 12. Irish premier Leo Varadkar on Thursday said there has yet to be a breakthrough over Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trade rules, but expressed hopes that an agreement is within reach. I am hopeful that we will get there," Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Varadkar told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "I think certainly Prime Minister [Rishi] Sunak and the British government seem to be very serious about coming to an agreement and settling this issue. And I think there is increased flexibility from the European Union side, which includes Ireland, around coming to an agreement."
Irish PM: No recession in Ireland expected
  + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: 1 min
Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIrish PM: No recession in Ireland expectedLeo Varadkar, Taoiseach of Ireland, discusses the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, and his economic outlook for the country in 2023.
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