Leo Varadkar
Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) is an Irish politician. A member of Fine Gael, he has served two terms as the Taoiseach (prime-minister) Ireland, firstly between June 2017 and June 2022 and again since December 2022. He was also Tánaiste (deputy prime-minister) between 2020 and 2022.
| Leo Varadkar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| 14th Taoiseach of Ireland From: 17 December 2022 â present | |||
| Tánaiste | Micheál Martin | ||
| Predecessor | Micheál Martin | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| 14th Taoiseach of Ireland From: 14 June 2017 - 27 June 2020 | |||
| Tánaiste | Frances Fitzgerald Simon Coveney | ||
| Predecessor | Edna Kenny | ||
| Successor | Micheál Martin | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Fine Gael | ||
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Career
Aged 20, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1999 local elections in Ireland. Varadkar was elected to Fingal County Council in 2004.
He was first elected to the Dáil Ãireann, Ireland's national legislature, in 2007 to represent the constituency of Dublin West. He remains TD for the seat to this day.
He became 14th Taoiseach of Ireland on 14 June 2017, at the age of 38. At the time, it was widely reported that Varadkar was the youngest person to hold that position, and the first homosexual to do so. Earlier that month, Varadkar won the Fine Gael leadership contest and was later confirmed as Taoiseach in the Dáil Ãireann, Ireland's lower legislative chamber, by 57 votes to 50 with 47 abstentions.[1][2]
After serving nearly 3 years as Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar returned to the position of Taoiseach on Saturday, 17 December 2022. He was elected to the position following an 87-62 vote in the Dáil Ãireann following a formal nomination by the President.[3]
Views and policy
Despite Fine Gael's claims to be a "conservative party", there is little, beyond moderate fiscal conservatism, about Varadkar's political ideology that can be called conservative. He is blatantly liberal; in 2018, he called a referendum on the legalization of killing unborn children in Ireland, in which the anti-life side won. He also supports same-sex marriage.[4]
Personal life
Varadkar is gay.
Varadkar stated in a 2020 social media post that he isn't relgious, but grew up Catholic and finds faith and relgion "interesting".[5]