PICTURES: The rise of Simon Harris - from college dropout, to youngest ever Taoiseach

Ms Humphreys recalled seeing Mr Harris for the first time in the Dáil, saying she thought that he was on work experience and was “surprised” when she saw him “standing up to nominate Enda Kenny as Taoiseach”, back in 2011.

“I’ve gotten to know Simon Harris very well over the last 13 years and it is a great honour for me today to propose him to be our next Taoiseach. 

“Contrary to popular belief, Simon didn’t always want to be a politician - when he was younger, he wanted to be a vet. 

“Based on his life experiences however, he was inspired to get involved in politics to help people with autism and their families. It is that sense of him simply wanting to help and breaking down barriers that drives Simon Harris.” 

Mr Harris, who lives with Crohn’s disease, has a younger brother Adam, who is autistic. Adam runs autism services charity AsIAm, which was co-founded by Simon.

The Fine Gael leader and Wicklow TD also set up an autism charity as a teenager, Triple A Alliance, which is an autism awareness charity.

Turning to politics as finding his life experiences to be a catalyst of inspiration, Simon Harris was first elected as a councillor in 2009 in Wicklow county council and Greystones Town Council, and became a TD in 2011, taking the third seat in the Wicklow constituency.

He initially studied journalism and French at the Dublin Institute of Technology but dropped out in first year to pursue politics full time.

As the youngest deputy in the 31st Dáil, he was selected by Fine Gael to nominate Enda Kenny for Taoiseach, making his maiden speech.

He said at the time: “As the baby of the Dáil, I believe at 24 years of age I'm looking forward to bringing a fresh perspective and trying to feed into government new ideas and represent a generation that all too often doesn’t have a voice.”

In his maiden speech to the Dáil, Mr Harris nominated Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. This Tuesday, when nominated by Dáil members to succeed Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach, Mr Harris recalled this maiden speech which he made 13 years ago. 

“Back then I reflected on what values I thought were needed for the job in hand - integrity, honesty and a workrate which cannot be surpassed. As Taoiseach, I will demand of myself what I saw so important then.”

Within three years of his Dáil debut, he was elevated to the junior ministerial ranks and by the age of 29, he was appointed Minister for Health in 2016.

Since, he has taken office as Minister of Justice and Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.