Leo Varadkar

Early life

Born on 18 January 1979 in the Rotunda Hospital in Parnell Square, Dublin, Varadkar is the third child and only son of Ashok Varadkar and Miriam (née Howell). His father was born in Bombay, India, and moved to England in the 1960s to work as a doctor. His mother, born in Dungarvan, met her future husband while working as a nurse in Slough. They lived together in Leicester, where the eldest of their three children, Sophie, was born. The family moved to India, before settling in Dublin in 1973, where their second child, Sonia, was born.

Born to a Hindu father and Catholic mother, Varadkar's parents agreed to raise him in the Catholic faith. Varadkar was educated at the St Francis Xavier National School, Blanchardstown. His secondary-level education took place in Palmerstown at The King's Hospital, which is a fee-paying school operated under the ethos of the Church of Ireland. During his secondary schooling he joined Fine Gael. He was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), where he briefly studied law. He later switched to medicine. At TCD he was active in Young Fine Gael and served as vice-president of the Youth of the European People's Party, the youth wing of the Christian Democrat group.

He was selected for the prestigious Washington Ireland Program, which prepares ambitious young people for future leadership roles. He graduated from the school of medicine in 2003 and spent several years working as a junior doctor in St. James's Hospital and Connolly Hospital before qualifying as a general practitioner in 2010.

Fingal County Council: 2003–2007

Varadkar was twenty years old and a second-year medical student when he unsuccessfully contested the 1999 local elections in the Mulhuddart area. Varadkar was co-opted to Fingal County Council in 2003 for the Castleknock area as a replacement for Sheila Terry. At the 2004 local elections he received the highest first-preference vote in the country with 4,894 votes and was elected on the first count.

Dáil Éireann: 2007–present

Varadkar was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2007 general election, and became party spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 2007 to 2010. At the 2011 general election, Varadkar was re-elected to Dáil Éireann with 8,359 first preference votes (a 19.7% share of the poll in a 4-seat constituency).

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport: 2011–2014

When Fine Gael formed a coalition government with Labour, Varadkar was appointed Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on 9 March 2011. This was considered a surprise appointment as Varadkar was not renowned as a sports lover. He said that while he knew "a lot of facts...I don't play the sports."

In May 2011, Varadkar suggested Ireland was "very unlikely" to resume borrowing in 2012 and might need a second bailout, causing jitters on international markets about Ireland's credibility. Many of Varadkar's cabinet colleagues were not impressed with Varadkar's forthrightness; nor was the European Central Bank. Taoiseach Enda Kenny repeated the Government line that the State would not require a further EU-IMF bailout and said he had warned all ministers against making negative public remarks about the economy. Varadkar said that reaction to the story was hyped up but that he was not misquoted. Responding to Varadkar's decision to express his opinion in public, Independent News & Media's Evening Herald paper described the minister as gaffe prone, as it had also done previously.

Minister for Health: 2014–2016

In the cabinet reshuffle of July 2014, Varadkar replaced James Reilly as Minister for Health.

He was returned to the Dáil at the February 2016 general election. He retained the health portfolio in an acting capacity until May that year, due to a delay in government formation. In one of his final acts as Minister for Health, Varadkar cut €12 million from the €35 million allocated to that year's budget for mental health care. He was reported as having told the Dáil that the cuts were "necessary as the funding could be better used elsewhere."

Minister for Social Protection: 2016–2017

On 6 May 2016, after government formation talks had concluded, Enda Kenny appointed Varadkar as Minister for Social Protection.

Taoiseach and Leader of Fine Gael

On 2 June 2017, Varadkar was elected leader of Fine Gael, defeating Simon Coveney. Although Coveney had the support of more Fine Gael members than Varadkar, the electoral college system more strongly weighted the votes of the party's parliamentarians, with these strongly backing Varadkar.

Like Kenny, Varadkar relied upon the support of Independents and the abstention of Fianna Fáil TDs to support his premiership. On 14 June 2017 he was appointed Taoiseach in a 57–50 vote with 47 abstentions. He became Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach, as well as the youngest and the first of half-Indian descent. It was also the first time one Fine Gael Taoiseach was succeeded by another.

One of Varadkar's first acts as Taoiseach was to announce that a referendum on abortion would be held in 2018. He also said that the government would lay out a road map for how to achieve a low carbon economy.

Personal life

During an interview on RTÉ Radio on 18 January 2015 (his 36th birthday), Varadkar spoke publicly for the first time about being gay: "it's not something that defines me. I'm not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It's just part of who I am, it doesn't define me, it is part of my character I suppose". This made him the first openly gay cabinet member in Ireland. Varadkar was a prominent advocate of the same-sex marriage referendum.

His partner, Matthew Barrett, is a doctor at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.