Taoiseach Simon Harris praises 'understanding' wife Caoimhe as he opens up on health issues

Simon Harris has praised his wife Caoimhe for her understanding and patience throughout his political career.

The current Taoiseach is in a bid to stay in government as the upcoming general election looms at the end of the month.

Speaking about the support his wife Caoimhe gives him, he complimented her "resilience" in the face of difficult situations they have had to deal with.

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"I would say I don’t have the hardest job in my house," he said. "My wife [Caoimhe] is a clinical nurse specialist for paediatric palliative care, so it gives me a great sense of perspective. Three qualities? Patience, understanding and quiet support. What I mean by “quiet support” is my wife isn’t into politics, but she’s very understanding that, for example, this is going to be a very busy period. You need a degree of resilience, to put it mildly. It’s well publicised that we have had thuggery and security threats outside my home."

Opening up about when there was a bomb threat sent to his family home, the Fine Gael leader told the Irish Independent: "I wasn’t at home. I was in Áras an Uachtaráin. I came out and generally the car is always in the same spot, but my car wasn’t there and the guards were in a huddle and one of my protection officers said: “Taoiseach, there’s been a bomb scare at your home.” I felt anger, frustration, upset, worry, all at once.

"I rang home. Caoimhe is always calm. The gardaí were in the house and they had established it was a hoax, but the human impact is that my children are five and three and gardaí ringing your doorbell and having to walk through your house and checking your back garden. Children are resilient. At that age you like to think they are unaware, but that was tough.

"They know that their dad is involved in running the country. They don’t know much more than that. We try to keep life very regular. They know that Dad got a new job and is going to be busy."

The Taoiseach also spoke about being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, as he said thankfully he is on medication at the moment that means he doesn't struggle with any symptoms of the condition.

"I was about 20," he recalled. "I ended up having an emergency scope when I was on holidays in Portugal and I think that’s when I was diagnosed. Thank God, at the moment I have no ­symptoms. I am meant to take medication to maintain it."

Stress is said to exacerbate the disease, but Mr Harris said that it hasn't in his experience, adding: "They say it does, but I’ve taken on one of the most stressful jobs in Ireland and it hasn’t. But for a lot of people it can be very painful and debilitating. Thankfully, for me it’s not."