Prime Minister of Ireland resigns. “Politicians are human and we have limits” | Republic of Ireland

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland unexpectedly resigned this Wednesday as head of the Government and the leadership of the Fine Gael party. At a press conference held earlier this afternoon, Leo Varadkar clarified that he will remain as taoiseach (prime minister) until his successor is chosen, but he leaves the presidency of his party immediately.

Varadkar’s resignation does not require early elections to be called, and he could be replaced as prime minister by the next leader of Fine Gael. The party is part of a government coalition, with Fianna Fáil and the Greens, and the leaders of both parties have already said they are committed to fulfilling the legislature until the end.

However, Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Féin, the main opposition party and the most voted party in the last elections, defends going to the polls. “The next taoiseach it must be chosen by the population, not by the Fine Gael parliamentary group”, he said this Wednesday in Parliament.

Hours earlier, in an emotional speech, the resigning leader explained that the “reasons for the dismissal are personal and political”. Even assuming that the decision could take many people by “surprise”, he still did not offer many more details, implying that it was a position taken caused by the wear and tear of the profession.

“One of the dimensions of leadership is knowing when the time has come to pass on the testimony to someone else and then having the courage to do so,” he said. “And that time is now. Therefore, I submit my resignation as president and leader of Fine Gael, with effect from today; and I will resign from taoiseach so that my successor can take over the position”, he announced.

According to Varadkar, who proposes that the election of the new party leader take place at the congress scheduled for the beginning of April, the next prime minister will have time to prepare for the European (June) and legislative (2025) elections and “will be better placed ” to “renew and strengthen the team, to focus the message on policies and to implement them”.

“After seven years in the role, I feel that I am no longer the best person to do this job again”, he admitted. “Politicians are human beings and [nós] We have our limits. We give everything until we can give no more. And then we have to move on.”

Varadkar assured, however, that he was proud of having “guided Ireland from unemployment to full employment, from budget deficit to budget surplus and from austerity to prosperity” and of contributing to a “more egalitarian and more modern” country, in terms of “children’s rights, LGBT community and equality for women”.

The Prime Minister’s unexpected resignation comes, however, just a few weeks after an embarrassing defeat for the Government in a referendum, which resulted in the rejection, by the majority of voters, of two amendments to the Constitution: the elimination of references to “women in home” and a new concept of “family”.

Leo Varadkar served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland in two periods: between 2017 and 2020; and from 2022.

In 2017, at just 38 years old, this son of an Indian who emigrated to the United Kingdom and left for Dublin in the 1970s replaced the historic Enda Kenny, becoming Ireland’s youngest head of government and the first openly gay man. reaching the main political position in the country – relevant data in a country with a strong Catholic and conservative tradition.

Following the 2020 legislative elections, in which Sinn Féin, the former political wing of the left-wing IRA (Irish Republican Army), received the most votes, and in which Fine Gael came in third place, Varadkar made an agreement with the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael’s historic rival and runner-up, also right-wing, and accepted that its leader, Micheál Martin, was taoiseach during the first half of the legislature (2020-22).

O Irish Times points to the names of ministers Simon Coveney, Helen McEntee, Simon Harris and Paschal Donohoe as possible candidates for the leadership of Fine Gael and the Irish Government.