Leo Varadkar

Leo Varadkar was Prime Minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland from 2017-2020 and again from 2022-24. He served in the cabinet continuously for 13 years in the Ministries of Transport, Tourism & Sport, Enterprise, Trade, Employment, Social Protection and Health. At the time of election, he was Ireland’s youngest ever Taoiseach and the first one to identify as gay and biracial.

As Prime Minister, he helped lead Ireland through the Covid pandemic with one of the internationally-recognised best public health and economic responses. He led Ireland through Brexit, preventing a hard border between North and South, maintaining Ireland's place at the heart of the European Union and its single market, and upholding the Good Friday Agreement. The Governments he participated introduced marriage equality. He also advanced workers’ rights including the right to sick pay, paternity and parental leave, occupational pensions for all workers and a new public holiday – St Brigid’s Day. His government enacted a new climate law, invested in renewable energy and prohibited oil and gas exploration in Ireland’s waters.

A strong supporter of Irish unification, Varadkar allocated billions to North-South projects under the Shared Island Fund and helped to get the power-sharing institutions of the Good Friday Agreement operating again. He led Ireland into PESCO, the European Union’s structured co-operation on Defence and Security.

At the time of leaving office, Ireland had record levels of employment and a budget surplus.

Varadkar is a life member of Ireland’s Council of State which advises the President on constitutional matters. A member of the Global Advisory Board of Penta Group, he writes a column for the Sunday Times Ireland. He serves on the Board of Global Citizen Europe, the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and the advisory board of Care4Everyone which advocates for equal access to healthcare and healthcare research for women.

A medical doctor by training, he is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Ireland.