Profile: Simon Harris (FG)

Simon Harris was the youngest TD in the last Dail and the 29-year-old remains one of the brightest prospects for the party. Elected to the Dáil in 2011, he has impressed in Government and was promoted to Minister of State at the Department of Finance in 2014. In the 2016 general election, he increased his personal vote and helped deliver a second seat for Fine Gael in the Wicklow constituency. The Greystones-based candidate cut his political teeth campaigning on issues such as autism and was elected to Wicklow County Council in 2009 with the highest per cent age vote of any councillor.

He ran unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate in the South constituency for the European Parliament elections in 2014.