Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in November. 2023.
Victor Lochan | Gamma-Rabo | Good pictures
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced on Wednesday that he would step down after his Fine Gael party named a new leader.
“When I became party leader and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in June 2017, I knew that part of the leadership knew that the time had come to pass the baton to someone else and had the courage to do so. Now is the time,” Varadkar told reporters outside government offices in Dublin.
“I am therefore resigning as leader and leader of Fine Gael with effect from today and will resign as Taoiseach as soon as my successor is able to take up that position.”
Varadkar said the reasons for his resignation were “personal and political”, suggesting that a new leader would be better appointed to lead his party and the current centrist governing coalition, which includes the incoming local and Fianna Fáil and the Greens. European elections in June.
Fine Gael has suffered a series of electoral defeats of late, while 11 of the party's members of Parliament – known as the Teachta Dála (TD) – have announced they will not stand for re-election at the next election. Varadkar said he no longer felt he was the best person to lead the party.
“Loyal colleagues and good friends are running in the local and European elections and I want to give them a better chance and I think they have a better chance under a new leader,” he said.
Varadkar will be the constituency TD for Dublin West and said he had “nothing else lined up” and “no definite personal or political plans”.
