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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
June 2017 1 3
A
S A younger, and perhaps wiser, Leo
Varadkar once said: there is no mes
-
siah who will lead Fine Gael from the
desert into the promised land. This
did not prevent him from presenting
a decidedly messianic image as he posed for the
cameras following his decisive victory in the par-
ty’s leadership contest on 2 June. Since then
politics and the media have obsessed over his
choice for cabinet posts with one potential
appointee after another scrambling for pole
position beside the new leader to confirm their
adoration for the man who holds their future in
his hands.
Soon forgotten was the uncomfortable truth
that most of those among the party membership
allowed to vote chose Simon Coveney from Car-
rigaline ahead of the man from Castleknock, and
that Varadkar was elected through the over-
whelming support of the parliamentary party
and local councillors for the sole reason that they
believe he is the most likely leader to ensure
their re-election.
The wider party it seems judged the candi-
dates on policy, rather than geography or dare
we suggest because the average blue shirt just
is not ready yet for a gay man whose father
comes from India as their particular cup of Bar-
ry’s tea. This is not to suggest that Fine Gael
people are more likely to be homophobic or
racist than any other group of political support-
ers but that they simply have not got their head
around the rapid change in attitudes of a popu
-
lation with an average age of 38, which also
happens to be Leo’s.
For all this, Varadkar is as cautious and con
-
servative as most in his party on both social and
economic matters and is more likely to upset the
wider LGBT community than endear himself to
them. After all, he only came out as gay during
the marriage equality referendum which many
gay people saw as the culmination of decades of
campaigning for their rights from which the
young Leo had been silently absent.
More importantly however, as Taoiseach, he
is unlikely to deliver on a Repeal of the Eighth
Amendment which adequately meets the pro-
gressive demand for an end to church and State
interference with reproductive rights or to tackle
the huge range of discriminatory measures the
State employs against women, children and
minorities in health, education and social
provision.
There is little question that Varadkar will
improve on the future prospects for his party col-
leagues and that they will go into the next
election with greater expectations than if Enda
Kenny was still in charge. But that does not say
much and neither does it take into account the
harsh realities facing Fine Gael as it stumbles
from one crisis to another while feeding from the
life support provided by Fianna Fáil in
government.
Fianna Fáil is now looking at a general election
next year and possibly ahead of the third budget
it agreed to allow under the confidence and
supply agreement which was negotiated by a
less than enthusiastic Varadkar.
His tendency to speak first and ask questions
later will almost certainly cause some rocky
moments over the coming months while his need
to satisfy the many competing demands within
his own ranks will also hinder any desire he may
have to make innovative, not to mind radical,
change.
Varadkar will be really tested when it comes
to the bigger issues facing the country and the
first challenge he faces is how to deal with the
ongoing and apparently unceasing crisis within
the leadership of the Garda. He was among the
first to criticise former commissioner, Martin Cal-
linan, for describing the actions of whistleblower,
Maurice McCabe as “disgusting”, and almost
certainly precipitated the end of his long career
in the force. Now he has to decide whether to
allow the beleaguered Noirin O’Sullivan to
remain in position.
Varadkar will be happy to see the public ser
-
vice pay and pensions issue sorted before he
takes full hold of the reins but the challenge
posed by Brexit and its implications for the
border and peace process would have been well
outside his previous comfort zone. As to the
insuperable health crisis as a medical doctor he
might have been expected, when Minister for
Health (2014-2016) to have led the delivery of
the party’s plan for a universal health service to
which he pays lip service, but there is a suspi
-
cion he ran out of ideas and little cause to think
he will apply swift effective medicine as
Taoiseach.
Ultimately it will be his willingness to stand up
to the vested private interests that sustain and
feed the housing crisis, the rise in economic and
tax inequality, precarious work and poverty that
will test his imputed qualities as a radical young
visionary. However, his party promotes the low
tax, poor public service model that appeals to
the very people he needs to survive in the cruel
world of politics. Let’s call it Leo’s paradox.
A radical would have
no place in unradical
Fine Gael
by Frank Connolly
Leo’s
paradox
Varadkar is as cautious and
conservative as most in his
party on both social and
economic matters and is
more likely to upset the wider
LGBT community than endear
himself to them
