Leo Varadkar resigns as Taoiseach

evolvingtipperary101

....

L1011

There is zero chance that those are related

eightieschewbaccy

Also two thousand kilometers in a month is tiny. I really dislike her so I'm happy to see her gone tbh. But the ditch just trying to be relevant.

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121926281#Comment_121926281

Great leadership during Covid ?

We had the longest lockdown in the developed world, despite being an island at the edge of Europe with a low population density.

Tony Holohan and Philip Nolan with his doomsday models had us in a grip of fear.

The science wasnt challenged, anyone who questioned the science behind 5 km lockdowns and the like was labelled a conspiracy theorist.

A few speeches from Leo where he plagiarised dialogue is not great leadership.

Vardkar and Martin took the lazy aproach.

What seems to be blowing some posters minds is the fact that in moden Ireland for some politics isn't a life long career they can move on to other things.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927207#Comment_121927207

Those most upset on social media at Leo leaving seem to be those who are losing their favourite mixed-race homosexual target.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927207#Comment_121927207

Most politicians see our the end of their term, not resign with zero notice, just after an international trip, in the middle of a political crisis in (what could be) an election year.

My name is URL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927268#Comment_121927268

Who you have always been a fan of and supported, right Blanchy?

With all this talk about hospitals and focussed expertise, nobody seems to mention the fact that Telemedicine is a solution to some of the issues re location, provided we have overall enough medical staff, which of course we don’t.

It is possible in some locations for highly specialised & robotic surgery trained surgeons to operate Da Vinci machines remotely, provided there’s a competent surgical team trained to close up & finish if there was any technology failure. If consultants have the data and came assess remotely they can confer with resident consultant looking after patient on location. No need for everyone to be always on site.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140516-i-operate-on-people-400km-away

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927348#Comment_121927348

That's for bringing special surgical expertise to a hospital that already has good surgeons and anesthesiologists on site; it is of minimal to zero use for emergency medicine and wouldn't justify retaining any small hospitals.

Sure, extend services in Cork/Galway/Limerick (once the hospital itself is working)/even Dublin using external expertise with it

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927268#Comment_121927268

Don’t worry MrB, won’t be long before they get stuck into Simon too.

They hate anyone who who tries to change or improve things..give it a week or ten days.

My name is URL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927398#Comment_121927398

What do you envisage him changing or improving?

If he improves anything at all in 10 months, will you and MrB accept that Varadkar was useless in comparison?

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927430#Comment_121927430

He will make some changes. There is no point in Leo resigning if not.

People are underestimating Harris a little...those that think he is toothless will be eating their words, I suspect.

He wont be perfect, but he now has the keys to the sweet shop. He wont be toothless.

JP Liz V1

I wonder if a scandal leak is incoming, did Leo leak himself 😁

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927430#Comment_121927430

No… no human being is “useless” by and large.

It will be up to Mr Harris as to what he tackles in his scheduled short tenure.

Of course those who hate to see progress and genuine effort will be what they always are….no doubt about that.

LetticebCivil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121926106#Comment_121926106

OR years to get an appointment.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927119#Comment_121927119

They are all fiddling expenses. Dara Murphy (FG) showed what could be achieved with fraudulent expense claims and Leo never sanctioned him. He also did not bring in the long promised reform. The message to all TDs and Councillors is to milk it for what it's worth. The Public Sector Standards Bill 2015 is gathering dust a long time.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927319#Comment_121927319

Nope. Wouldn't call myself a fan. However, he has been the best available Taoiseach, given that the leader of the party I vote for - Greens - doesn't have the numbers.

Out of LV, MM and MLMD, Leo stands out a mile as the best.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927268#Comment_121927268

Bingo

You have people on twitter/tiktok who whole account revolved around Leo, now what will they do?

Really some oddballs on TikTok who record videos daily just to talk about leo and now they have nothing

Who will they move their attention to next??

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927573#Comment_121927573

Tis a fair assessment.

J.O. Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927450#Comment_121927450

I thought if you had too many sweets you would end up toothless.

I'm not sure he'll be able to achieve much in the before a general election and that's nothing to do him I don't think anyone could with 10 months maximum to go.

It's after the general election we'll see what sort of leader he is. Will he be in a position to be Taoiseach (probably rotating with MM), will he be leader of the opposition, will he be Tainaiste with no rotating Taoiseach. Tainaiste with no rotating Taoiseach - I'm not sure that would be the best move politically but it could be spun as him being a brave leader or one who is willing to do anything for a little bit of power.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121926106#Comment_121926106

I don't think you understand the numbers. Having large hospitals where doctors are treating large numbers of patients instead of small hospitals where doctors are treating small numbers of patients results in better health outcomes overall for the population.

Yes, for a single person in the back end of nowhere, they might have less chance of surviving a heart attack, but in general, the population, that is everyone, lives longer and healthier lives.

It is why all modern countries are built around cities unlike Ireland where we cling to stupid notions of dispersed ribbon rural living.

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927541#Comment_121927541

A lot of FG apologists are being dismissive of this. But it is significant and points toward the culture of a party. At least someone is working to uncover these things. Josepha Madigan made bogus ministerial mileage claims over four years. The Ditch first asked her for comment on Tuesday. She was contacted again this morning after her response failed to address key issues and was given until Monday to reply. Our politicians can't be above these things.

Josepha Madigan submitted bogus ministerial mileage claims over four years (ontheditch.com)

dmakc

To me Josepha will be remembered for being in legal cahoots with Maria Bailey's drunken swing fall that time.

JP Liz V1

I will admit that during Covid, I found some comfort and reassure in Leo's speeches maybe it was the cough medicine I over indulged

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121926024#Comment_121926024

To a large extent, it is about affordable accommodation. Unfortunately since coming to power in 2011 FG has done all they can to increase house prices, and this in particular forces trained Irish people out of the country. Replacing expensive Irish workers with cheaper immigrant workers from the Philipines, Ukraine and elsewhere may look like sound economic policy to FG, FF and the Greens, but a lot of the electorate isn't happy with this policy as the emigrants are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins and friends of those who remain.

This isn't intended to be an anti-immigrant post - it is a criticism of a poorly thought-out Irish government policy.

Other countries with large numbers of immigrants do not typically have a large outflow of their own nationals at the same time as an influx of immigrants, and many Irish people are angry that this is happening. The problem isn't usually described in these terms, but this is in many ways precisely what is happening.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927638#Comment_121927638

He is yet to eat the sweets. That's the point. He may end up toothless at the end of it all, but he will make an impact in the meantime.

Agreed, lots of connotations but I expect he will make some pretty bold moves early on, otherwise the leadership change would not have occured.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927694#Comment_121927694

Yep. FG had no credible opposition in 2011 and immediately turned to the dark arts. Irish Water was a prime example of corruption, waste and cronyism. The New Politics guff was all lies.

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121926106#Comment_121926106

100%. I live 18km from Beaumont Hospital.

I’d a friend who had a heart attack in Spain. If he’d been at home, he’d be dead now.

I’ve a friend in the same village, his 3yo was hurt in a farm accident. When he called 999 he was told to pick her up and drive her to hospital as an ambulance wouldn’t be available for 3 or more hours. She unfortunately didn’t make it. This was during the day on a weekday.

I also came across a girl who had fallen down 3 flights of concrete stairs on the Long Mile Road around the 27/28th Dec, called an ambulance for her at 8, waited with her until her sister arrived at 10:30 and left to get a train home, they called me at midnight to see if emergency services had phoned me, they hadn’t. I eventually got a call back at 1:30am to see if an ambulance was still needed. I rang them and they’d gotten a friend to bring them to hospital.

Health needs a massive overhaul in this country.

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121927719#Comment_121927719

He has a certain way of speaking and a voice that makes it sound like everything is completely, absolutely under control and everything is being worked out. Calm but also a slant to it that things are getting done to improve the situation. A very dangerous leader in that respect.

I think Varadkar's resignation symbolises the end of wokeism in Ireland, or at least the start of a countermovement to it, and it's far beyond time for it.

Up to recently the only truly anti-woke and anti-left people were the likes of Gemma Doherty, John Waters, the Healy-Raes and a few smaller independents and commenters and being on the right and anti-immigrant was seen as being uneducated and a bit of a joke.

Other countries have engaged in runaway leftist elitism as well based on social constructs but they all produced right countermovements against it long ago. Ireland has been about 10-20 years behind all those countries.

This is why I believe Varadkar has resigned. Varadkar is used to being liked and to being "right" and to being the smartest guy around, same as when he trained to be a doctor. It was easy for him to brush off the criticisms before as people who weren't educated about the matter. Now with Elon Musk and others calling him out it doesn't suit his ego so he wants to take himself out of that situation. Hopefully that's it, and it's not that the country is completely bankrupt after paying foreigners to come here, rats fleeing a sinking ship sort of thing.