Leo Varadkar sworn in as Ireland’s first openly gay Prime Minister
Leo Varadkar, a 38-year-old Indian-origin doctor, today scripted history by becoming Ireland’s youngest and the first openly gay prime minister of the Catholic-majority country, as he promised to build “a republic of opportunity”.
Varadkar, the country’s first Indian-origin premier, officially took over from Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, as the Irish prime ministerial title is known, after a parliamentary vote in Dublin confirmed him as the leader by 57 votes to 50, with 47 abstentions.
The former general physician, who is the son of an Irish nurse and a doctor from India, won the Fine Gael party leadership earlier this month. He has made his leadership rival Simon Coveney the deputy leader of the party.
Addressing the Dail (Irish parliament), after his election, Varadkar said, “I’ve been elected to lead but I promise to serve.”
“The government that I lead will not be one of left or right because those old divisions don’t comprehend the political challenges of today. The government I lead will be one of the new European centre as we seek to build a republic of opportunity,” Varadkar asserted.
He then travelled to the president’s residence, Aras an Uachtarain, where President Michael D Higgins gave him the seals of office to officially confirm …read more