Leo Varadkar: Ireland's Prime Minister Announced Resignations

Leo Varadkar: Ireland's Prime Minister Announced Resignations

Ireland's Indian-origin Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sent shockwaves across the country by announcing his sudden resignation from the post and party leadership citing "personal and political" reasons.

• The Taoiseach, who is 45 years old, has resigned from office following a loss in a double referendum related to family matters. The voters rejected proposals to broaden the legal definition of the family beyond married couples. Additionally, they declined to remove certain sexist language regarding women's duties in the home from the Irish Constitution.
• Varadkar was born in Ireland to a Mumbai-born father and Irish mother and has led the Fine Gael party since 2017, when aged 38 he became the country’s youngest and first openly gay Prime Minister, and has served as Taoiseach twice since.
• Varadkar announced that he thinks a new leader would be more capable than him to increase the number of seats for the Fine Gael party in the next year's general election. The election is scheduled for next year.
• He recently joined Britain’s Indian-origin Prime Minister to unveil a historic power-sharing pact when Varadkar and Rishi Sunak agreed that a “stable, effective and successful” Northern Ireland – part of the United Kingdom and sharing a border with Ireland – benefited the UK-Irish relationship immensely.

About Ireland

• Ireland is an island nation on the westernmost edge of Europe. It is the continent's second largest island (after Great Britain).
• Government: Constitutional Democracy
• Capital: Dublin
• Currency: Euro
• Languages: English and Gaelic
• Mountain ranges: Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Wicklow Mountains
• Rivers: Shannon, Liffey, Boyne, Moy, Barrow