Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar quits in shock move

(The Independent)

Leo Varadkar will step down as Ireland’s prime minister and the leader of the governing Fine Gael party in a surprise move, Irish media reported on Wednesday.

Varadkar‘s departure as head of the three-party coalition does not automatically trigger a general election and he could be replaced by a new Fine Gael leader.

Varadkar in 2017 became the first gay prime minister of the once-staunchly Catholic country and the youngest person to hold the office. He returned to the premiership in 2022.

The news comes days after Varadkar visited US President Joe Biden, telling him it is possible “to be for Israel and for Palestine” during a speech at a White House event for St Patrick’s Day.

He said the Irish people are “deeply troubled” by what is happening in Gaza because “we see our history in their eyes” through forced emigration, a denied identity and hunger.

But the Taoiseach also said “we also see Israel’s history reflected in our eyes” through a diaspora “whose heart never left home” and had a nation and language revived.

He said that lessons can be learned from the peace process in Northern Ireland “particularly the concept of parity of esteem” and the key role of the United States.

“I believe it is possible to be for Israel and for Palestine and I believe you do too.

“Because the life of a Palestinian child is equal to that of an Israeli one,” he said.

“And the aspiration of the Palestinian people to have a homeland, and a fully-fledged State, in the land of their forefathers is equal to that of Israel’s.”

Mr Varadkar made the comments at an event where he handed Mr Biden a bowl of shamrock in a tradition repeated for St Patrick’s Day every year.

Quoting the former US president John F Kennedy, Mr Varadkar said he had told the Irish parliament months before he was killed, that Ireland should be “the protector of the weak and of the small”.

“When somebody dies before their time, as he did, their words can assume a kind of prophecy, a sort of sacred promise to the future.

“As a country, we have tried to live up to the mission he set for us when he predicted that one day we would do something to give to the world ‘a future of peace with freedom’.”

Mr Biden, who often celebrates his Irish heritage, paid tribute to immigrants who left Ireland for the US during his speech: “The Irish spirit can never be overcome.”