Minister Simon Harris announces birth of son this morning

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science, Simon Harris, has welcomed a son this morning. 

Minister Harris announced the birth on his Twitter page and expressed his gratitude to "all the incredible team in Holles Street". 

He stated, "Thank you to everyone for kind wishes. We are delighted to welcome out new little man, Cillian, into the world." 

The minister went on to state he will now take paternity leave "for a little while". 

Two weeks of paternity leave was introduced as a legislative reform in 2016 to enable working parents to spend more time with their children.