Irish PM Varadkar to step down in shock move, says fresh leadership needed
Taoiseach says another candidate would be better placed to win upcoming elections; Varadkar identified with Palestinians, was slammed by Israel for casting hostage as being ‘lost’
Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday he would step down as Ireland’s prime minister in a surprise move, saying the country’s coalition government would stand a better chance of reelection under another leader.
Varadkar said he had asked his Fine Gael party to elect a new leader ahead of its annual conference on April 6, following which parliament would vote on that person succeeding him as prime minister after the Easter break.
The shock departure of Varadkar, who became the first gay prime minister of the once-staunchly Catholic country in 2017 and returned to the premiership just 15 months ago, does not automatically trigger a general election. A vote must be held by March 2025.
“My reasons for stepping down are both personal and political,” Varadkar, 45, told a hastily arranged news conference at government buildings in Dublin, sounding emotional as he spoke.
“But after careful consideration, and some soul searching, I believe that a new Taoiseach (prime minister) and a new leader will be better placed than me to achieve [the coalition government’s re-election].”
His successor will have 12 months to try to claw back the wide opinion poll lead the main opposition Sinn Fein party, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, has over both Fine Gael and their main coalition partner Fianna Fail.
NOW – Ireland's prime minister Leo Varadkar resigns.pic.twitter.com/7b0I9FqtBj
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 20, 2024
Polls suggest the current three-party coalition also stands a chance of being re-elected.
Bookmaker Paddy Power made 37-year-old Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, the country’s health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, the clear odds-on favorite to take over from Varadkar.
Other contenders include Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, a former deputy prime minister, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
“The problem is that there is no natural stand out, one of the problems of being in power for so long is that all of them come with the baggage of longevity in office,” said David Farrell, professor of politics at University College Dublin.
“Harris probably has the edge. He’s a great communicator and could make a difference in the election.”
“No political plans”
Varadkar said Wednesday it was the right time for him to step down and that there was no “real reason” behind his decision.
“I have nothing else lined up. I have nothing in mind. I have no definite personal or political plans,” he said.
Varadkar’s government has overseen a sharp economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, but has struggled to tackle a decade-long housing crisis and more recently the pressure on services from record numbers of asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
Ireland voted to remove a ban on abortion under his leadership. He announced publicly that he was gay in a radio interview during the 2015 referendum campaign that successfully legalized same-sex marriage.
However, he suffered an embarrassing defeat this month when a large majority of voters rejected proposals to replace constitutional references to a mother’s “duties in the home.”
The leaders of Varadkar’s coalition partners said they were surprised when he let them know of his plans at a regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, adding that they would both work with his successor to fulfill the government’s mandate.
A small crowd watched from the gates of government buildings as Varadkar made his announcement. Officials, including one junior minister from the Green Party, looked out of open windows onto the courtyard of government buildings as Varadkar spoke.
As recently as last weekend, Varadkar was in Washington where he met US President Joe Biden for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and talks on subjects including the Israel-Hamas conflict — on which he has been highly critical of Israel’s actions — and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
He expressed solidarity with the Palestinians during the visit, recognizing a similar history with the Irish.
“We see our history in their eyes — a story of displacement, of dispossession and national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination and now hunger,” he said at the White House, and urged Israel to “reverse its precipitous decision to authorize a land incursion into Rafah,” the city in southern Gaza that Israel says it must enter in order to defeat Hamas, but which now contains more than 1 million civilians.
But despite his criticism, he added that he also recognizes a shared history between Ireland and Israel.
“We also see Israel’s history reflected in our eyes,” he said. “A diaspora whose heart never left home, no matter how many generations passed; a nation-state that was reborn; and a language revived.”
Varadkar drew criticism from Israel in November over a social media post celebrating the release of Emily Hand, a child with dual Israeli-Irish citizenship who was taken hostage by Hamas and freed during a ceasefire. He wrote then, “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned.”
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy responded at the time that “Emily Hand wasn’t ‘lost.’ She was brutally abducted by the death squads that massacred her neighbors. She wasn’t ‘found.’ Hamas knew where she was all along and cynically held her as a hostage.”
