Know the new Indian Gay Prime Minister of Ireland

by Advit Mittal 24th Dec. 2022

It’s been another proud moment for all the Indians, as Leo Varadkar of Indian origin has been appointed as the Taoiseach of Ireland once again after his nomination was approved by Ireland’s parliament. In late 2019, Varadkar visited Varad, his ancestral village in Maharashtra. His father, Ashok, was born in Mumbai and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s to work as a doctor which is proof of his ties with India and his of having Indian roots. Many Indians such as Narendra Modi, Anand Mahindra, and UK's prime minister Rishi Sunak have already congratulated him for being elected as Taoiseach and talked about how they will work together in future.

1. Leo Varadkar is 43 years old and was Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 when his Fine Gael Party ruled alone in Ireland. The Irish word Taoiseach means “chief” or “leader”, and was adopted by the constitution of Ireland in the year 1937 as the title of the “head of the Government or Prime Minister”. Leo Varadkar was born in Dublin to an Irish mother who worked as a nurse and an Indian immigrant father who was a qualified doctor. He gained his degree from Trinity College, Dublin in medicine after which he went into general practice but stayed involved in general politics and in 2007 he secured the election from Finnegan in Dublin West. He became the head of the Ireland government for the second time as a part of the job-sharing deal made by the country’s centrist coalition government. He was elected as the premier by a margin of 87 votes in favour, 62 votes against and one abstention. Varadkar received the seal of office from current Ireland’s president Michael D. Higgins. In 2020, Varadkar's party Fine Gael party agreed upon forming a coalition government with Fianna Fail and Green Party in Ireland. Here, he served as the Deputy Prime Minister(Tánaiste) as well as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 till December 2022. As per the agreement from all three parties in setting up a coalition government, the leader of the Fianna Fail Party, Micheal Martin will first serve as Irish Taoiseach until December 2022 and then Varadkar, leader of the Fine Gael party will replace him to be the new prime minister for the remaining 5- year tenure of the elected government. Now, Micheal Martin, his predecessor, will take Varadkar’s old post as deputy prime minister.

2. His term was approved as lawmakers voted to approve his nomination during a special session of the Dail (Lower House of Ireland’s parliament). In the speech, just after he was appointed the Taoiseach he discussed solving and working on the challenges that the country will be facing in the near coming future. He looked forward to making a plan for the next 100 years for the country. He also talked about how some of the issues need special attention immediately and need to be fixed otherwise how they will be betraying the current generation and the generation that will be coming after them. He talked about persisting housing problems and gave assurance upon eradicating these problems concerning homelessness and falling home ownership. For the same, he talks about how the government needs to boost their housing plan to accelerate the plan of housing for all making homeownership a reality for many again. He also talked about the existing work and the cost of living crisis in Ireland. He will also work on improving the falling and struggling health infrastructure, and high energy bills in the country. He also talked about the history of Ireland in the last 100 years and how the country promotes and gives freedom to its citizens that earlier they didn’t have. This includes becoming a republic and a place where a citizen is limited by gender, religion, race, background or sexual orientation and how Ireland is a country where everyone is free to be themselves. Apart from that, Varadkar will have his focus on the existing conflict between the UK and relating to Brexit-related Northern Ireland Protocol (In simple terms, the protocol aims to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and make sure of the integrity of the EU's (European Union) single market for goods and encourage free access for NI goods to the UK's market, and ensure the inclusion of Northern Ireland (NI) goods in free trade agreements between the UK and third countries), an issue which remains to be unresolved.

3. He is Ireland’s youngest-ever leader and first-ever openly gay prime minister. He became the country's youngest Taoiseach at the age of 38 becoming Ireland’s first biracial leader to serve in that capacity and also the first of the Indian Heritage. In 2015, before Ireland's referendum to legalise same-sex marriage, Varadkar publicly came out as gay. His previous tenure as Taoiseach was overshadowed by Brexit and the pandemic. Due to this, he re-registered as a doctor and returned to work while continuing to lead the country. Varadkar’s rise to the top of Irish politics was remarkable in a country dominated by a strict conservative catholic morality well into the latter half of the century. He has been the Leader of Fine Gael since June 2017, and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency since 2007. Under previous Taoiseach Enda Kenny he served as Minister for Social Protection from the year 2016 to 2017, Minister for Health from the year 2014 to 2016 and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport from the year 2011 to 2014. It is expected that a change in the prime minister's office, will likely also lead to a ministerial reshuffle in the country.

4. As per the agreement, Micheal Martin had to hand over the charge to Leo Varadkar on December 15, 2022, but the handover was slightly delayed, allowing Micheal to take part in the final EU leader's summit held in Brussels. Varadkar's image was quite hit by a police investigation into his leaking of a government pay deal for general practitioners to one of his friends. In the month of July, the director of public prosecutions decided to not pursue a case against Varadkar, which might have jeopardised his return as premier.

At last, I would just say that it is again a moment of great pride for all Indians as another person from our roots sets a benchmark as well as shows to the entire world, how human capital efficient India was, is and will be.