Niamh.
03-06-2017, 10:56 AM
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Leo Varadkar is the new Taoiseach!
Having beaten Simon Coveney 60%-40% in the vote to be leader of Fine Gael, the TD from West Dublin will now step into Enda Kenny's shoes.
Leo Varadkar has been elected as leader of the Fine Gael party. His name will now have to be put before the Dáil, to be voted in as Taoiseach.
However, as the leader of the biggest political party in the current government, his election to Ireland's highest political office is a foregone conclusion – barring the most extraordinary, unexpected development.
The leadership battle was not all plain sailing. In the end, party members backed his rival Simon Coveney. However, Fine Gael's elected representatives have the biggest say in the electoral process and they chose Leo Varadker as their new leader by a significant majority.
Simon Coveney accepted defeat graciously after what was an interesting contest, which he described as being about "the soul of hte Fine Gael party." Coveney – who had placed a strong emphasis on the policies of the Just Society, pioneered by Declan Costello and Garret Fitzgerald – described Varadkar as a worthy winner and committed to working alongside him, and to doing everything in his power to help the new leader.
However, there were bruising exchanges during the course of the leadership battle and it remains to be seen if Leo Varadkar will extend the hand of friendship to Coveney by allowing him to stay in his current role as Minister of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government – or indeed by offering an alternative, even more prestigious position.
The consensus is that Paschal Donohoe, who supported Leo Varadkar in his push to become the new leader, is likely to be given the Finance brief once the new Taoiseach is in place – in a move that may finally end the cabinet career of Michael Noonan.
Back in 2010, the new man-in-charge was a first-term TD, making waves within the Dáil. In one of the most revealing interviews he's ever given, the then 31-year-old talked to Olaf Tyaransen about drugs, sex, religion, Republicanism and all the other big issues. He did not talk about his own sexuality at the time, and indeed expresses his opposition – at the time – to gay marriage. He also talks about his interest in women – though there was an elliptical aspect to that part of the conversation, which is now far easier to understand.
He chose to come out as gay on the run-up to the Same Sex Marriage Referendum, which took place in 2015. That, of course, will make Leo Varadker Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach. Without a doubt, it is a measure of just how far the country has come, in terms of eliminating discrimination and prejudice. In his acceptance speech, Leo Varadkar commented that the result shows that "prejudice has no hold in this Republic."
It will be interesting to see too just how much he has changed in relation to abortion. In 2010, he was extremely conservative in his views. But the country has moved on hugely, and the hope is that so has he.
Here's how the conversation with Olaf unfolded back in 2010...
*****
No More Mr. Not So Nice Guy
As the youngest member of the Fine Gael front-bench, Leo Varadker has a reputation for being forthright and abrasive. But it turns out that the 31-year-old doctor has a sensitive side too, as he discusses sex, politics, the loss of privacy and the boys club that is Dáil Éireann.
“People tell me that all the time. You’re literally about the sixth person to say it to me today. I think it’s because I tend to slouch when I’m on TV.”
Standing well over six feet, Fine Gael’s enterprise spokesperson Leo Varadkar – or ‘Varad-the-Impaler’, as the Sunday Times have dubbed him – is surprisingly tall. He’s also surprisingly familiar, casually greeting your Hot Press correspondent as though we’ve known each other for years. We’ve never met before, but he tells me that he remembers my own unsuccessful Dáil run for the Cannabis Legalisation Party in the 1997 general election. The mixed-race Castleknock GP was 18 at the time.
Already named by Enda Kenny as a possible future Cabinet member, Varadkar’s promotion to Fine Gael’s front-bench has been remarkably swift. He was elected to the Dail in 2007, snatching Dublin West’s second of three seats from the Socialist Party’s Joe Higgins. While Higgins’ polished wit and razor sharp oratorical skills have been badly missed by many Dáil observers, Varadkar has certainly been holding his own in the entertainment stakes. He wasn’t even “a wet week in the House” (to use Bertie Ahern’s phrase) when he infuriated the disgraced former Taoiseach by asking questions about his murky personal finances.
He’s been making his mark since. Various radical right-wing policy suggestions, such including the notion that we should pay unemployed foreign immigrants to return home, have kept him in the headlines. However, although considered Fine Gael’s boy wonder, he does make the occasional gaffe. Recently, he scored an own goal and embarrassed his party by comparing Brian Cowen’s dismal political record to Garret FitzGerald’s, thus: “You’re no Sean Lemass, you’re no Jack Lynch and you’re no John Bruton. You’re a Garret Fitzgerald. You’ve tripled the national debt. You’ve officially destroyed the country.”
https://www.hotpress.com/Leo-Varadkar/news/Leo-Varadkar-is-the-new-Taoiseach/20172501.html
Leo Varadkar is the new Taoiseach!
Having beaten Simon Coveney 60%-40% in the vote to be leader of Fine Gael, the TD from West Dublin will now step into Enda Kenny's shoes.
Leo Varadkar has been elected as leader of the Fine Gael party. His name will now have to be put before the Dáil, to be voted in as Taoiseach.
However, as the leader of the biggest political party in the current government, his election to Ireland's highest political office is a foregone conclusion – barring the most extraordinary, unexpected development.
The leadership battle was not all plain sailing. In the end, party members backed his rival Simon Coveney. However, Fine Gael's elected representatives have the biggest say in the electoral process and they chose Leo Varadker as their new leader by a significant majority.
Simon Coveney accepted defeat graciously after what was an interesting contest, which he described as being about "the soul of hte Fine Gael party." Coveney – who had placed a strong emphasis on the policies of the Just Society, pioneered by Declan Costello and Garret Fitzgerald – described Varadkar as a worthy winner and committed to working alongside him, and to doing everything in his power to help the new leader.
However, there were bruising exchanges during the course of the leadership battle and it remains to be seen if Leo Varadkar will extend the hand of friendship to Coveney by allowing him to stay in his current role as Minister of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government – or indeed by offering an alternative, even more prestigious position.
The consensus is that Paschal Donohoe, who supported Leo Varadkar in his push to become the new leader, is likely to be given the Finance brief once the new Taoiseach is in place – in a move that may finally end the cabinet career of Michael Noonan.
Back in 2010, the new man-in-charge was a first-term TD, making waves within the Dáil. In one of the most revealing interviews he's ever given, the then 31-year-old talked to Olaf Tyaransen about drugs, sex, religion, Republicanism and all the other big issues. He did not talk about his own sexuality at the time, and indeed expresses his opposition – at the time – to gay marriage. He also talks about his interest in women – though there was an elliptical aspect to that part of the conversation, which is now far easier to understand.
He chose to come out as gay on the run-up to the Same Sex Marriage Referendum, which took place in 2015. That, of course, will make Leo Varadker Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach. Without a doubt, it is a measure of just how far the country has come, in terms of eliminating discrimination and prejudice. In his acceptance speech, Leo Varadkar commented that the result shows that "prejudice has no hold in this Republic."
It will be interesting to see too just how much he has changed in relation to abortion. In 2010, he was extremely conservative in his views. But the country has moved on hugely, and the hope is that so has he.
Here's how the conversation with Olaf unfolded back in 2010...
*****
No More Mr. Not So Nice Guy
As the youngest member of the Fine Gael front-bench, Leo Varadker has a reputation for being forthright and abrasive. But it turns out that the 31-year-old doctor has a sensitive side too, as he discusses sex, politics, the loss of privacy and the boys club that is Dáil Éireann.
“People tell me that all the time. You’re literally about the sixth person to say it to me today. I think it’s because I tend to slouch when I’m on TV.”
Standing well over six feet, Fine Gael’s enterprise spokesperson Leo Varadkar – or ‘Varad-the-Impaler’, as the Sunday Times have dubbed him – is surprisingly tall. He’s also surprisingly familiar, casually greeting your Hot Press correspondent as though we’ve known each other for years. We’ve never met before, but he tells me that he remembers my own unsuccessful Dáil run for the Cannabis Legalisation Party in the 1997 general election. The mixed-race Castleknock GP was 18 at the time.
Already named by Enda Kenny as a possible future Cabinet member, Varadkar’s promotion to Fine Gael’s front-bench has been remarkably swift. He was elected to the Dail in 2007, snatching Dublin West’s second of three seats from the Socialist Party’s Joe Higgins. While Higgins’ polished wit and razor sharp oratorical skills have been badly missed by many Dáil observers, Varadkar has certainly been holding his own in the entertainment stakes. He wasn’t even “a wet week in the House” (to use Bertie Ahern’s phrase) when he infuriated the disgraced former Taoiseach by asking questions about his murky personal finances.
He’s been making his mark since. Various radical right-wing policy suggestions, such including the notion that we should pay unemployed foreign immigrants to return home, have kept him in the headlines. However, although considered Fine Gael’s boy wonder, he does make the occasional gaffe. Recently, he scored an own goal and embarrassed his party by comparing Brian Cowen’s dismal political record to Garret FitzGerald’s, thus: “You’re no Sean Lemass, you’re no Jack Lynch and you’re no John Bruton. You’re a Garret Fitzgerald. You’ve tripled the national debt. You’ve officially destroyed the country.”
https://www.hotpress.com/Leo-Varadkar/news/Leo-Varadkar-is-the-new-Taoiseach/20172501.html