Leo Varadkar resigns as Taoiseach

sonofenoch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121967663#Comment_121967663

How the hell do you go from Justice to education….are these bods actually qualified for everything or nothing at all and just winging it

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968030#Comment_121968030

This is why they need an army of their own advisors and a whole army of civil servants to advise them.

JP Liz V1

I wonder what Leo will do next, I feel he has a taste for the media limelight unless a story is going to break

Is DWTS renewed by RTE, if he sits long enough in the canteen he will be asked

bobbysands81

Deciding just to throw in the towel and resign as An Taoiseach is not ok. Leo is getting away with murder here.

What kind of leader wakes up one morning and just says “I’ve had enough”? That’s not the actions of a leader but an arrogant mé féiner.

I can’t believe he’s not getting a hard time from the media about this… but they’re probably way too busy vying for the next round of Press Secretary roles or busy paying back the Government for their decision to reduce the VAT on newspapers to 0% than actually holding the Government to account.

JupiterKid

Leo V always looks out for number 1 - breathtaking arrogance, lacking in empathy with the common person, all style and soundbites over any substance. His huge and smug (but fragile) ego was badly dented by the disastrous referendum results so he sees the writing on the wall for FG who in are in a serious state of disarray over the complete mess the country is in with respect to housing, health, immigration, the “refugee” situation and education.

A rat deserting a sinking ship is the perfect analogy here. I’m no fan of FG but I always believed Coveney would have made a better choice of leader than Varadkar and he was excellent in Foreign Affairs over Brexit. Simon Harris will be leader and Taoiseach for a pretty short tenure as I reckon a general election won’t be too far off at this point.

Coveney probably also sees the direction the FG ship is going…sinking.

Helen McEntee is not fit to serve as a junior minister, let alone in Justice where she is breathtakingly incompetent. FG have such a poor offering of senior politicians at this point and TBH FF aren’t really any better.

The Greens have been the tail wagging the FFG dog, like the PDs did in their time in govt during 2000s property bubble years - but the sheer naiveté and incompetence such as shown by Roderick O’Gorman and dogmatic pigheadedness by their leader Eamon Ryan, alienating and antagonising even many of their own limited voting base will ensure electoral wipeout in the next GE.

As for the opposition parties, the calibre of their own TDs bar a few notable exceptions is pretty poor. Politics is in bad shape in this country at the moment - and that is something we all should be worried about.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968192#Comment_121968192

100%… and he’s always got a hell of a soft ride from the Irish media considering ….and his departure and the manner of it is further proof. A softer ride then any other politician I’ve known…

He’s been an awful Taoiseach, thoroughly disingenuous, arrogant, poor diplomatic & media skills, completely unreliable, untrustworthy, inconsistent and in no way relatable to the average person on the street…. A disaster.

tom23

It’s like rte canteen. Just hang in there you’ll be looked after.

tom23

And that’s been kind. He couldn’t relate to the ordinary taxpayer. When the person that wrote the line for his speech ‘the people who get up early in the morning’ he probably asked ‘who’?

But I love this country and its ability to rewrite history. According to Mickey Martin, there was no bank bailout so we’ll probably be told that Leo was a powerhouse teeshock in a couple of years.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968192#Comment_121968192

What should he have done? What should any party leader do if they no longer want the job? Should they be obliged to fill the role until they lose an election or something?

bobbysands81

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968239#Comment_121968239

I think his little “in” joke of including quotes from movies during his COVID “national addresses” was strikingly arrogant and ill thought out. A compliant media practically ignored his immature stunt.

The country needed leadership, he thought he’d have a bit of craic with his pals. A sickening leader.

bobbysands81

They’ve given a commitment, they see it through to the end… unless they have some real pressing issue as to why they can’t and then they explain it to the public.

This person has the most important job in the State, if there are reasons he can’t continue then fine, but just waking up one day and arrogantly deciding he doesn’t want to be Taoiseach anymore shows that he was never mature enough to be Taoiseach in the first place. Hes a self centred, self serving narcissistic person, not a leader.

bobbysands81

…and sure isn’t good old Bertie back hanging round political events again. Unreal.

Upon reflection, Leo has left some trail of destruction behind him. It's like he has lit a match and just walked off into the sunset.

Harris already making moves to remedy which is great to see. If I see action over the year they may even win back my vote.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968855#Comment_121968855

Explain the trail of destruction? what he took over and what he has left behind?

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968833#Comment_121968833

A TD is a job, getting abused non stop all the time by online trolls will take it tolls on anyone. Look at any of the posts on twitter from Leo from the last 4 years, majority have nothing to do with politics. Go back to when he first took over and it was a stream of racism and homophobic posts.

Why should anyone have to deal with that nonsense?

Calling a person "Hes a self centred, self serving narcissistic person, not a leader." is based on what?

Why do you think that? maybe you can explain to everyone on this thread why you want to attack a TD for doing their job? what is this opinion based on

As I posted many times I have never voted for Leo, I lived in his area for a long time and never voted for him. The childrens hospital was another reason I would never vote for him in the future

tabby aspreme

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/varadkar-i-should-have-been-clearer-in-cervical-cancer-court-comments-1.3580685

Making empty promises to this group of women has shown how low he would go to get himself out of a tight spot

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121968469#Comment_121968469

If you go for election you should commit for the full term. If the leader decides to step down before the end of the term the govt should dissolve and elections called.

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970453#Comment_121970453

That is not how elections in Ireland (or most countries with representative democracies) work for a multitude of very good reasons.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970453#Comment_121970453

We don't vote for a party leader. We have a representative democracy, we assume the elected members can make the correct choices needed.

skimpydoo

If the rumours are true, Leo could be in quite a fine mess. Lets just wait and see how this plays out.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971610#Comment_121971610

Mate honestly based on the contacts you claim to have, which is twitter and the Ditch, Leo probably never paid his tax on a car that isn't even registered to him 😂

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971625#Comment_121971625

Oh its a lot worse than that if its true and I did say if.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971627#Comment_121971627

Yes "if", more noise. Go on back and check his tax disk. Pile of wafflers running after a fruit cake in Donegal

How is the Russians these days ?

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971638#Comment_121971638

I have no idea how Chay Bowes is as I don't know him personally and I have never met him.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971646#Comment_121971646

Never mentioned Chay 🤣

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971684#Comment_121971684

Well you did mention Russians. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to work out what you meant.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971711#Comment_121971711

"weak" you mean

Not sure how you would combine the Russians and Chay

Anyway I refer back to original point, your source seems to the the Ditch which we can all agree is the most corrupt and biased media in Ireland.

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971735#Comment_121971735

My source is not the Ditch.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971740#Comment_121971740

But you're not going to expand on this at all I guess?

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971938#Comment_121971938

Nope as I have heard a few different rumours and I don't if any of them are true. However, I will note that Paddy Cosgrave has a press conference at 11 am tomorrow where he will mention why Leo resigned. So, let's wait and see what comes out of that. It might be something or it might be nothing.