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Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives to attend a European Union summit on February 1 in Brussels, Belgium.
Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
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Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives to attend a European Union summit on February 1 in Brussels, Belgium.
Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
LONDON – Fresh from a visit to the United States on St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says he will step down from that role within weeks as soon as his center-right party chooses a successor.
Varadkar announced on Wednesday that he will resign immediately as head of the ruling Fine Gael party, which is part of a coalition government. That sets in motion a leadership race, similar to a primary in the American system.
“I will resign as president and leader of Fine Gael from today, and will resign as taoiseach as soon as my successor is able to assume that role.” Varadkar said in an emotional speech in Dublin, using the Irish word for the title of prime minister.
He said his reasons for resigning are “both personal and political.”
“It was the most satisfying moment of my life,” Varadkar told reporters, his voice breaking.
But he said he believes his party will do better in the next election under a different leader, who will take office sometime after the March 31 Easter holiday.
Varadkar, now 45, was the youngest person elected Irish prime minister when he took office, first from 2017 to 2020 and again from late 2022.
Varadkar, a doctor whose father is originally from India and mother is Irish, is Ireland’s first biracial prime minister. He is also the first openly gay person to hold the highest office in once staunchly Catholic Ireland.
Varadkar campaigned to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015 and legalize abortion in 2018.
“I am proud to have made the country a more equal and more modern place,” he said Wednesday.
But Varadkar suffered a setback earlier this month when he failed to win public support for his efforts to make amends to the 87-year-old. Irish Constitution omit what he called sexist and outdated language. Voters rejected the proposed changes. in a referendum celebrated on International Women’s Day.
On foreign policy, Varadkar has issued some of the harshest criticism of Israel of any European leader during the current war between Israel and Hamas. Irishsupport for the palestinians run high.
Varadkar raised that on the weekend conversations with President Biden in the White House. The Irish leader went ahead with that White House meeting, despite an online campaign among Irish people. voters urge him to boycott the visit because of Biden’s support for Israel. Varadkar also visited Boston last week.
Ireland is suffering a cost of living and housing crisis. With Irish elections due to be held later this year or early 2025, Varadkar’s Fine Gael party and its coalition partners, the centrist Fianna Fáil party and the Green Party, have been trailing in the polls.
He currently leads those polls Sinn Feina left-wing party with past links to the Irish Republican Army, which had never governed Ireland before.
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