Eoin O'Malley: He who dares wins is a lesson Simon Harris would do well to learn

Simon Harris has had a tentative start to his tenure as Taoiseach. Photo: PA

Eoin O'Malley

When Leo Varadkar stepped down as taoiseach one of his more interesting reflections was that he hadn’t been bold enough. He noted a lot of the advice to him was essentially cautious. He regretted following the advice and instead thought he would have done better in the job had he trusted his gut.

The new man, Simon Harris, might be wishing he had trusted his gut. In the first big call he had to make, Harris was essentially cautious. His cabinet selection was limited by coalition demands, but in the choices free to him he opted to make as few changes as possible.