Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s maverick prime minister, said on Wednesday he would step down, days after a double referendum in which voters rejected constitutional changes championed by his government and after years of waning public support for his policy party, Fine Gael.
Mr Varadkar, the gay Mumbai-born son of an Irish nurse and a doctor, became the country’s youngest leader when he was appointed prime minister in 2017 aged 38 and in many ways personified the rapidly changing identity of the modern Irish state.
But Fine Gael, which governs in coalition with two other parties, has struggled in recent years and, ahead of local and European elections in June, opinion polls show public support for the party has gradually declined.
“I know this will come as a surprise to many people and a disappointment to some, but I hope you will understand my decision,” Mr Varadkar told a news conference outside Leinster House in central Dublin. “I know others will — how shall I put it? — Deal with the news just fine,” he said. “That’s the great thing about living in a democracy.”
Citing both “personal and political” reasons, Mr Varadkar, 45, said he would step down as party leader with immediate effect and continue to serve as prime minister until Fine Gael elects a new leader before his recess Easter. This position is expected to be filled when the government returns on April 16.
Mr Varadkar made the surprise announcement shortly after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning, his voice cracking at times with emotion.
There was no indication of his decision a few days earlier when he visited the White House and met with President Biden for St. Patrick’s Day. But Mr Varadkar has been unable to revive Fine Gael’s fortunes since coming third in the 2020 election, when most votes went to Sinn Fein — the party that has historically called for Northern Ireland to unite, which remains part of the UK. Basilio. , with the Republic of Ireland. This result was detrimental to the long-standing dominance of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who went on to form a coalition government with the Green Party.
Eoin O’Malley, associate professor of political science at Dublin University, said that while Mr Varadkar’s announcement was a surprise, the party had not been in a strong political position for some time.
“This is a politician going low, in some ways,” Professor O’Malley said, pointing to Mr Varadkar’s own resignation speech as evidence of this. “There’s a real sense of a sold-out party.”
In recent months, around a third of Fine Gael MPs have announced they are retiring from politics ahead of the 2025 election.
And while there is no clear successor waiting in the wings, Mr Varadkar may have decided to step down because he believes “a younger, more vibrant leader might be the best opportunity for this party to try and present a new image”. Professor O’ Malley added.
Mr Varadkar first became prime minister in 2017 after his predecessor, Enda Kenny, resigned over his handling of the corruption scandal.
A former health minister, he oversaw a 2018 referendum that overturned the country’s abortion ban, one of several measures that reshaped the Irish Constitution in ways that reflected the country’s more secular and liberal modern identity. After the coalition government came to power in June 2020, he served as deputy prime minister before resuming a leadership role as part of the parties’ power-sharing deal.
Much of Mr Varadkar’s work since then, and in the second half of his first premiership, has focused on navigating a post-Brexit landscape that threatened to undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that had forged decades of peace on the island of Ireland .
He was applauded for these efforts and was seen as instrumental in winning major concessions from Britain. These included negotiating a deal with then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that avoided a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Varadkar, who trained as a doctor before becoming a politician, returned to the medical register to work part-time.
But Mr Varadkar’s return to the political leadership role in 2022 — even after his party slipped to third place at the last election — was in many ways an unexpected and defiant second act.
“He is not the Leo Varadkar we saw last time in this role,” said David Farrell, professor of politics at University College Dublin. “The energy was definitely starting to leave it.”
“Suddenly immigration has become a really big issue,” ahead of next year’s general election, Professor Farrell said. “We’ve always expected this kind of potential for a far-right agenda to take root here, and now we’re starting to see some of the signs, unfortunately,” he added. Even Sinn Féin, the most popular party in the polls, has seen its support fall as a result of its immigration policies, while support for immigration-heavy independent candidates has grown.
Mr Varadkar has recently faced criticism for the failed double referendum campaign earlier this month which the coalition government expected to win. Irish voters rejected two proposed changes to the Constitution that would have removed language about women’s duties in the home and expanded the definition of family beyond marriage.
Analysts said the results partly reflected a weak campaign for the amendments, confusion over the proposals and lower-than-expected voter turnout that cast a spotlight on the government’s approach.
As he announced his resignation, Mr Varadkar acknowledged that despite many successes, there were “other areas where we have been far less successful and some where we have gone backwards”. He said he would “leave it to others to point out such a day.”
“I know, inevitably, there will be speculation as to the ‘real reason’ for my decision,” he said during the announcement. “These are the real reasons. This is. I have nothing else on my mind. There are no specific personal or political plans, but I’m looking forward to having time to think about them.”
Micheál Martin, the leader and deputy prime minister of Fianna Fáil, said on Wednesday that he and Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Green Party, were informed on Tuesday night by Mr Varadkar of his decision to stand down.
“To be honest, I was surprised, obviously, when I heard what he was going to do, but I wanted to take the opportunity to thank him sincerely,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin said he felt confident the government had a clear mandate and a clear program to move forward.
On Wednesday, the news was met mostly with a shrug in Galway, western Ireland, where many had not even heard the news of Mr Varadkar’s departure. Others, however, saw the surprise announcement as evidence of Ireland’s headwinds.
“The country is in a proper mess,” said Camillus Kelly, 69. He pointed to the housing crisis and strained social service programs as evidence of the problems. His wife has health problems, Mr Kelly said, and “we have to fight for any support we get”.
Others, however, appreciated Mr Varadkar’s steady leadership. His long tenure in Irish politics, Paddi Monaghan said, had left its mark, although the resounding ‘no’ votes in this month’s referendums were testament to the challenges.
“I’m very sad,” Ms Monaghan said. “I thought he was outstanding. It’s not easy, politics today.”
Ali Watkins contributed reporting from Galway, Ireland.
