Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announces his resignation

The 45-year-old leader cited “both personal and political” reasons in announcing his departure in a statement to the press, one year before the scheduled date of the next elections.

The Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, announced, Wednesday March 20, to everyone’s surprise, his resignation as head of the center-right coalition government, considering that he was no longer “the best person for this position”. The 45-year-old leader, visibly moved, cited reasons “both personal and political” by announcing his departure in a press statement, one year before the scheduled date of the next elections.

“I am resigning from the presidency and leadership of [parti de centre droit] Fine Gael and will resign as Prime Minister as soon as my successor is able to take office.”did he declare.

Leo Varadkar had been head of government since December 2022. In 2017, then aged 38, this mixed-race and gay doctor became the youngest Prime Minister of an Ireland long known to be very conservative. He gave way between 2020 and 2022 to Micheal Martin, leader of another party participating in the coalition and now Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The “no” to the referendum as an explanation?

“After seven years in office [à la tête de son parti], I no longer feel like I’m the best person for this job.”he nevertheless admitted. “Politicians are human beings and have their limits”he added.

“We give everything until it’s no longer possible and then we have to turn the page.”

Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Ireland

His departure comes after the debacle of the referendum proposed on March 8 by the government to modify the references to women and the family in the Constitution, written in 1937. The two amendments were largely rejected, more than 67% for the one extending the concept of family beyond the notion of marriage and more than 73% for the one erasing from the text the priority role of mothers in ensuring the “domestic duties” in a home.

The vote had crystallized discontent in this country of five million inhabitants and the government had been accused of having poorly prepared the ground, even though almost the entire political class had said it was in favor of these changes.