Who is Leo Varadkar?
When Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister, the surprise announcement ended a chapter in the career of a politician who has led the country twice but whose party will struggle in next year’s elections.
When Mr Varadkar took on the role in 2017, his identity – as the country’s first openly gay leader and the first of South Asian descent – was seen as evidence of Ireland’s rapid modernisation. At the age of 38, he was also the youngest leader.
Mr Varadkar was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a father born in India. Before starting a career in politics, he trained as a doctor. During a 2015 referendum campaign on the legalization of same-sex marriage, Mr Varadkar, who was health minister at the time, announced he was gay, a move that would strengthen the ‘yes’ vote.
By the time he became prime minister or taoiseach, Mr Varadkar’s party, Fine Gael, had been in power for six years and was facing a domestic policy crisis, including issues such as health, education and housing. In the 2020 election, the party dropped to third place and formed a coalition with its rival centre-right party, Fianna Fáil, and with the Green Party to retain power.
As part of the coalition agreement, Mr Varadkar stepped down as leader and was succeeded by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. After a stint as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Varadkar returned to the top job in December 2022.
Speaking in Dublin with Cabinet members behind him on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar trumpeted what he described as his government’s achievements on domestic issues and cited steps to enshrine personal rights.
“I am proud that we have made the country a more equal and modern country when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women and their bodily autonomy,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that his decision to resign would come as a surprise to many. Explaining his rationale, he said there was “never a good time to resign from a high-ranking position,” but that he was “no longer the best person for the job.”
This month, voters rejected two proposed changes to the Constitution that would have removed language on women’s duties in the home and expanded the definition of family outside of marriage.
Mr Varadkar appeared to allude to the setbacks for his government in his comments on Wednesday, saying: “There are areas where we have been much less successful and in some areas we have unfortunately gone backwards.”
In recent months, Mr. Varadkar has been a vocal critic of Israel for its conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza, an issue he raised with President Biden at the White House on Sunday during the Irish leader’s St. Patrick’s Day visit to the Gaza Strip. United States. Critics have argued that Mr Varadkar’s blunt delivery was sometimes jarring.
His resignation does not mean that elections must take place immediately. But next year’s election looks set to be an uphill battle for his party, not least because of the relative weakness of the coalition agreement that returned Mr Varadkar to the top.