Leo Varadkar to step down as Irish prime minister

[WhereYouLeftIt]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/20/leo-varadkar-step-down-irish-prime-minister/

https://archive.ph/AyM2B

"Mr Varadkar, 45, will step down after suffering defeat in a referendum held to remove sexist language about women’s duties in the home from the Irish Constitution."

There's been a lot said about the No/No vote, when the political class took ot for granted there'd be a Yes/Yes. I wonder if his resignation is going to turn out to be part of a wider shake-out?

No loss.
He always struck me as a fur coat no knickers type. All image, no substance.
I am not sure if his replacement options are any better though.

There’s already a thread on Craicnet

Long overdue. None of them are any better.

Good riddance. What destruction he and his wretched government have wrought on Ireland.

This feels very Jacinda Arden-esque, though, getting out before the SHTF, and moving onwards and upwards. Hopefully his life post-domestic politics more resembles that of the publically disgraced Nicola Sturgeon.

Good. Off you fuck, Leo.

And yes, this seemed rather like a Nicola-esque defeat.

Every kick in the arse, a step forward - he'll probably end up in a very well paid job in Bruxelles. I don't have much hope for the future, they're all the same

In saying that, I'm happy he's gone

I've always felt uncomfortable with his private life , out clubbing a lot with younger men and having an extremely open marriage leaves him vulnerable to blackmail and would certainly rise eyebrows if he was straight in a heterosexual marriage.
Shows a lack of judgement / arrogance

Three threads on Craicnet, this one - maybe people should start a few more, why should Kate Middleton get all the attention?

I often thought that if it was Trump, for example, the media reaction would have been very different. Though I am glad that the Irish media generally respect the privacy of politicians.

Well I expected the homophobic slurs that are appearing on on other platforms, but I'm surprised that Varadker's 'private life' 'clubbing with younger men' 'open marriage' is making an appearance on MN. I have no idea what his marriage is like. He was once spotted getting friendly with a man in a club. Duh.
On the whole he has conducted himself correctly in public life, and what he does in his private life is his business.
The amount of online abuse because of his ethnicity ['He hates the Irish people'] and sexuality [snide little homophobic remarks about gay sex, or 'he has no idea what it's like to be a family man'] has been shocking.

It also makes you wonder about what underlies the virulence of some [NB: SOME] of the political criticism - he was far from the worst Taoiseach, and the country is not 'literally' falling apart as some commentators claim.

I don't know if I agree with you @MarieDeGournay. I think he was very popular when he became leader,and his ethnicity and sexuality were not a barrier in that regard. He was also widely praised for the early handling of Covid. But he seems to have lost touch with the reality of the struggles people are facing in their daily lives, in his quest to be seen as progressive.

Wasn't the clubbing video memory holed?

I don't disagree with you in general, but his ethnicity and sexuality keep coming up in online comments, perhaps the homophobia and racism were under wraps when he was more popular but there's some pretty gross stuff out there now.
I've no problem at all with political commentary, and with having a right go at politicians you disagree with, but their private lives, and identity, should be off limits, no matter how crap they are as politicians!

Varadkar was just another modern Irish politician from the PMC (professional managerial class) who preferred trying free market-based solutions to complex problems caused by inequality, tinkering around the edges of serious social issues like the housing crisis, drafting laws to ban public dissent rather than trying to make changes that would benefit Irish people, and trying to shame the population into going along with policies that didn’t benefit them or society. He’s a political type that’s very common these days in a lot of Western countries.

If he gets a highly-paid post in the EU upper echelons or does a Nick Clegg, in going to work for a Silicon Valley corp, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised.

Well if somebody uses that identity to get ahead of their rivals in the leadership contest, and uses it to shield themselves from political criticism in the compliant media, then I think they have opened their own can of worms.

Anyway, as a former FG party canvasser, I can tell you I care not a jot for his private life, his political contribution to the country was dire. And if you think we are living through the best of times, take a walk down Mount Street; take a walk through Ballaghadereen; see how many 35 year olds are still living at home - the highest number in decades.

I‘m not sure what his political beliefs were, or indeed if he had any true beliefs, but he strayed very far from the heartlands of Fine Gael and his drubbing in the referendum was a well due rebuke.

Good riddance to him. Who is likely to replace him though? Someone worse probably?

I agree with you in that and I think Irish media are generally good at respecting the private lived of Irish politicians. But the point I was making was that I don't think they would have done the same if the politician was the wrong type of political figure such as Trump or Farage. Nothing to do with Varadkar's sexuality per se, just I think, there might have been a double standard.

Not the worst Taoiseach (or TD)? I’d imagine it’d depend on your perspective. Or what criteria are being used. Women’s and children’s rights might be an interesting phD research project. I suppose that Irish powerbroker Cardinal McQuaid was a contender for equal contempt for the rights, equality, dignity and fairness wrt Irish women. He was said to be a big power behind deV. Both keen on the auld misogynistic slant of their ideology.

McQuaid said that girls shouldn’t do sports as it wasn’t good for their reproductive organs (paraphrase). Varadkar’s ideology put into legislation means men could access and appropriate anything meant for women. If they do a twirl and said they’d be good boys (now girls). Joke, they don’t even have to be good boys. This effectively means that women potentially can’t safety have access to some sports. It is all at the whim of men, and if they want to appropriate it. Or anything else to do with women. Women’s rights and spaces also at the whim of lads in Ireland. Once you couldn’t say anything about the Church or you were anti-clerical. Now you can’t say anything about those in power in politics if they are gay or else you’re homophobic. Even (or maybe especially) if it is women and children who potentially could suffer most. It wasn’t right for abusers to be moved around from parish to abuse children. it wasn’t right for rapists or abusers to be moved where they have access to potentially rape and abuse women and children. Paddy O’Gorman interviewed women on the effect of women being locked up with men like that.

When Varadkar said he’d only just been made aware about ‘Barbie Kardashian’ in an Irish women’s prison, even my husband called bullsh*t on it. Unfortunately again Irish women have had the Irish state rigging things against us. Varadkar very much part of this climate and the Dáil (minister for Health) which passed the unbridled (bullshit for women in Ireland) Gender Recognition Act. He even wanted to push for under 18’s.

https://archive.is/uKo76

Look at the language of the article. Ireland so ‘progressive’. One could imagine they’d like to be really ‘progressive’ and dedicate the Constitution to the new ideology of anti-science, changing sex rubbish. Now that the holy trinity are out.

Nah, don’t think I’ll defer to men simply ‘cos they are someone’s ‘special’ men du jour. Whether clerical, gay, straight, married, single, old or young. Certainly when people are using it as a straw man to excuse their making Ireland a cold house for women and children again.

Absolutely spot on.

I only hope for new direction. A Dáil which isn’t nigh on 80% male, doesn’t omit or dismiss women’s rights, and rolls back on our backward ideology with it’s men’s entitlements agenda which to the detriment of women and children.

I don't like that tiny minority of people using Varadkar's sexual orientation as a thing to criticise him over, I don't like them using his or Hazel Chu's ethnicity likewise, I hated it back in the early 80s when nutters went round Dublin shops leaving stickers saying how suspicious it was that the three Jews in the Dail were distributed one in each party (that was pre PDs).

But I loathe Varadkar's extremely right wing politics, and his disdain for the poor and the needy. And women. I believe we'll be much better off without him and his hangers-on.

Why do so many modern politicians seem to have such a narcissistic nepotistic bent these days?

Politicians seem too busy to govern, and allow unelected activist organisations being paid with public money to advise public bodies including the politicians themselves how to behave. e.g. Stonewall.
"Look at me I'm a virtuous politician. I have the lanyard to prove it."

Politicians paying people with the public's money to tell them what they want to hear.
Politician "Here's some public money. Tell me how popular this is."
Pollster "You're exactly right, everyone agrees with you."
Politician "Great, have some more public money."
Pollster "PS we think you're fabulous!"
Politician "I agree! You guys really know your stuff. Have even more public money."
a little while later....
Politician "Fuck. How did that happen? Oh well off to enjoy mein campfervan."

They aren't listening to the voters, they are listening when money is involved.
I'm sure one of the main reasons Sturgeon tried to fit Salmond up is she was jealous of his public profile. It all seems so very me me me.

Small population countries like Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, NZ, for example, seem to have a real problem with their NGO sectors pushing for legislation that the voting public actively dislike and then, when this dislike is made known, the governments and the NGOs heavily shame the public for it.

Most people don't give a shiny shit about his sexuality. But that video of him snogging some random bloke in a bar was awful. Absolutely not the kind of behaviour people expect to see from a government minister let alone a taoiseach. The criticism was nothing to do with his sexuality - I don't want to see ANY minister behave like that, be they gay or straight. It's unbecoming and disrespectful to the office he holds. If he doesn't want comment on his private life then maybe he should keep it private and don't put himself in a position where he can be filmed snogging a randomer in a public place. The only reason he got away with it is BECAUSE he's gay.... lickspittle Irish media and chattering classes tripping over themselves to signal their progressive credentials by pretending it was no big deal.