He lacked the gifts to succeed in the bearpit of Irish politics, yet did. And he escapes the battle that looms for his successor
There are common threads in the political careers of Jacinda Ardern and Leo Varadkar. He was 38 in June 2017, when he became Ireland’s youngest taoiseach, as well as its first gay and first mixed-race leader.
Four months later, Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected, aged 37, as New Zealand’s prime minister. After five and a half years in office, she resigned in January 2023, saying “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.”
Tommie Gorman is a former Northern editor and former Europe editor of RTÉ, Ireland’s public broadcasting service
