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Leo Varadkar is to step down as Ireland’s prime minister in a shock decision, saying he was no longer the right person to lead his party into a general election due within a year.
Varadkar, who has been taoiseach since December 2022 and served previously in the role between 2017 and 2020, cited personal and political decisions but gave no details in a brief, at times emotional, announcement on Wednesday.
“One part of leadership is knowing when to pass on the baton and having the courage to do it,” Varadkar told reporters, surrounded by stony-faced senior party figures. “That time has come. After seven years [as party leader] I don’t feel I’m the best person for that job anymore.”
His voice shaking with emotion at times, Varadkar, 45, said he would stay on until a new leader of Fine Gael was selected. He said he had “nothing else lined up”, adding later that becoming an EU commissioner was “not for me” and he had not decided whether to stand in the next election.
“There’s never a right time to resign high office,” Varadkar said. “However, this is as good a time as any . . . My reasons for stepping down are both personal and political, but mainly political.” He gave no further details.
The Fine Gael party executive met on Wednesday evening and said leadership nominations would close on Monday with the new leader being elected on April 5, a day ahead of the party’s conference.
The winner is expected to be elected taoiseach after the parliament, the Dáil, returns from its Easter recess on April 9.
Simon Coveney, enterprise minister, ruled himself out of the running. He said he had decided “quite some time ago” that he would not stand again for party leader after losing to Varadkar in 2017.
Varadkar’s decision came days after his return from St Patrick’s Day celebrations with US President Joe Biden in the White House and less than two weeks after a government drubbing in two constitutional referendums.
Simon Harris, higher education minister, is a hot favourite to succeed him with public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe and social protection minister Heather Humphreys other possible contenders. No one has yet confirmed their intention to stand for the leadership.
Parties in Ireland’s ruling coalition, made up of the centre-right Fine Gael, the centrist Fianna Fáil and the Green party, do not expect the bombshell resignation to trigger a general election. Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, has demanded an immediate poll.
“There’s a huge appetite for change. Fine Gael has been in government for too long,” Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told broadcaster RTÉ. “Another Fine Gael taoiseach is not what the country needs at this time.” Fine Gael has been in power since 2011 in different coalitions.
The news, which blindsided politicians even within Fine Gael, comes ahead of local and European elections in June and a general election due by March 2025.
Varadkar said: “I believe this government can be re-elected and I believe my party can gain seats. Most of all, I believe the re-election of this three-party government would be the right thing for the future of our country.”
“But after careful consideration and some soul-searching, I believe that a new taoiseach and a new leader will be better placed than me to achieve that,” he added.
Micheál Martin, leader of Fianna Fáil and foreign minister, said he had been surprised by Varadkar’s decision but that it would not precipitate an election.
However, Holly Cairns, leader of the small opposition Social Democrats party, said it was untenable for the government to finish its term “if even the taoiseach seems to recognise the writing is on the wall”.
Varadkar’s Fine Gael has been plateauing in the polls and several of its legislators have chosen not to stand in the next general election.
A medical doctor who became Ireland’s youngest taoiseach and the first openly gay person in the role, Varadkar had been a public representative for 20 years, including 13 as a cabinet minister and seven as party leader.
He was expected to meet fellow EU leaders in Brussels at a summit on Thursday.
As prime minister, he steered Ireland through Brexit, helping clinch a deal that avoided a hard border on the island and was at the helm when Ireland legalised abortion in a referendum in 2018. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, writing on social media platform X, praised his “dedicated service”.
Varadkar was also premier during the Covid-19 pandemic, the recent cost of living crisis and a spike in immigration that aggravated a housing crisis. Although the pace of homebuilding has accelerated on his watch, housing remains a top electoral concern. Sinn Féin has capitalised on the crisis, surging in opinion polls on pledges to end the housing crisis.
This article has been amended to correct the end of Varadkar’s first term as taoiseach
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