Achi news desk-
Mr Vardkar caused a political earthquake when he made the surprise announcement that he was stepping down as party leader and prime minister last month, leading to Simon Harris becoming Ireland’s youngest Taoiseach at 37.
“I almost got released the night before … but it was definitely the right decision for me and hopefully the right decision for the country,” he told Patrick Kilty. late late show
“It was something I thought about for a few months but I definitely made the decision in the days before. I thought back to 2017, when I first became Taoiseach, and I was at a meeting of 27 EU Prime Ministers and there were only three or four of us left and most of us are getting out of politics now.
“Another former prime minister once told me there are only three ways to stop being the leader of your country: either you die, lose or resign. And if you don’t die or lose, you have to resign,” Mr Varadkar said.
“It was a hard decision to make to tell yourself that you’re not actually the right person to be ahead of things. But I came to this conclusion that it needed someone [else] After spending 13 years in the government, a reset was needed.”
Today’s news in 90 seconds – April 26
Mr Vardkar said he had not made a decision on whether he would run in the next general election in Dublin West and said he would wait eight to 10 weeks to make a final decision after seeing what his local and European party did. The elections are on June 7.
He suggested Senator Meer Carey as a possible replacement for him in the constituency, saying: “There are four male TDs in the constituency – three of us are gay, there must be something in the water there – but I’d also like to see a woman elected there.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Mr Varadkar said the rise of the “populist right” was a concern for Ireland and said immigration “will always become center stage in Irish politics”.
“That’s just the way politics works. We saw it with the election of Donald Trump in 2016 when he was going to build the wall and all these weird things. We saw it. [in the UK] And they have the rather strange Rwanda program where they spent €500 million but still haven’t sent a single person back,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said friends of his who have biracial children in Ireland are now worrying about their children due to racism in Ireland for the first time. He said he felt it especially when growing up in Blanchardstown as the son of an Indian doctor, he was “the only kid a little darker and with a funny last name”.
He went on to suggest limiting leadership terms in Ireland wasn’t such a bad idea, looking back on his 13 years in government.
“When you’re Taoiseach, you’re Taoiseach all the time. It’s very long hours, it’s most evenings, most weekends. You’re always working and you’re always concerned and worried about the problems the country is facing and people are facing and the coming period,” he said.
“That it shouldn’t be forever, and you know, one thing they have in America for the top office, president, governor, is an eight-year term limit, and maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”
Asked if he thought he was a good coach, Mr Vardkar said others would be the final judge of that.
“It is too early in my opinion to draw such conclusions. You have to see what comes next in the next three, four or five, six years to know for sure,” he said.
Asked what he regretted, Mr Vardakar said he felt the government was too cautious in 2011 following the financial crash.
“The economy has recovered much faster than we thought … and we’ve held back on some spending decisions, and we’ve held back on some investment decisions. A lot of the new homes you see being built now, or some of the new transportation improvements that are about to come online, could have happened five years ago if we knew what we know Now,” he said.
“The progress we are seeing now could have been much further and then you will see a better situation with housing, a better situation with health. But this is in hindsight and hindsight is 20/20.”
