Leo Varadkar has resigned as Ireland’s Prime Minister and leader of his Fine Gael party following his shock defeat in two ‘progressive’ constitutional referendums. The Telegraph has the story.
The Taoiseach made the announcement at Government Buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, bringing an end to his second stint as Ireland’s leader.
“After careful consideration and soul searching,” he said, “I don’t feel I’m the best person for the job anymore.”
Mr. Varadkar, 45, said there were “personal and political” reasons for standing down, without elaborating.
“There is never a right time to stand down. Politicians are human beings, we give everything we can until we can’t anymore.”
He added: “I have nothing else lined up.”
Mr. Varadkar will step down after suffering defeat in a referendum held to remove sexist [sic] language about women’s duties in the home from the Irish Constitution.
It came after the first meeting of the Cabinet held after the double referendum, in which voters also refused to expand the constitutional definition of the family beyond married couples.
But Mr. Varadkar will also be aware that his centre-Right Fine Gael and coalition partners Fianna Fail have long lagged far behind Left-wing Sinn Fein in the polls.
Ireland must hold its next General Election, which Sinn Fein is expected to win, by March 2025.
The latest victim of go woke, go broke, it seems.
Worth reading in full.
Voters are strange creatures: they vote down the two ‘progressive’ constitutional changes but then back Sinn Fein – a radical Leftist neo-Marxist party that would do far more than remove constitutional references to women and redefine the family.
But then again, does it not just show the lack of real choice given to voters at elections, pushing them into parties with agendas and policies they completely disagree with. Every major party in Ireland backed the referendums, yet the voters clearly didn’t.
An obvious solution to this gulf between the political class and the people they are supposed to represent would be to be more like Switzerland and hold many more referendums, breaking the monopoly on political power held by the major parties.
On the other hand, don’t assume that referendums would always favour freedom and common sense. The Swiss infamously backed draconian Covid emergency measures in several referendums. There is no perfect solution. But, to channel Winston Churchill for a moment, there are some less bad solutions that it might be worth trying from time to time.
Stop Press: On X, Michael Shellenberger notes Varadkar’s Government “is still demanding the power to send police into homes to confiscate computers and cell phones in a bid to censor the entire internet, worldwide”.
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