Leo Varadkar will return as Irish PM as part of coalition deal after Micheál Martin resignation
17 December 2022, 14:29
Leo Varadkar will return for a second term as Ireland’s prime minister under the terms of a coalition deal agreed in 2020.
Mr Varadkar, received the nomination to replace Micheál Martin at a special session of the Dail, the lower house of the country's parliament.
He'll be officially named the head of the government later today.
Micheál Martin has been taoiseach since 2020, after an election that led to an historic coalition deal between Fianna Fáil party and Mr Varadkar’s party Fine Gael.
A government was formed along with the Green party, with both parties agreeing that Mr Martin would be leader for the first half of the five-year term with Mr Varadkar as deputy, before swapping roles.
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Mr Martin submitted his resignation to Irish preisdent Michael D. Higgins this morning.
The 62-year-old said serving as leader had been “the honour of a lifetime” and that he was “looking forward to the second phase of this government.”
The government faces a number of complex issues, including spiralling energy costs, a housing crisis, difficult post-Brexit relations with the UK and a struggling health care system.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are both centrist parties that for decades have dominated Irish politics, but had never previously formed a coalition government together.
The agreement sidelined left-wing nationalist party Sinn Fein, which bagged the biggest votes share in 2020 but wasn't able to assemble sufficient support to form a government.
Both centre parties have long shunned Sinn Fein due to its historic links to the Irish Republican Army and years of violence in Northern Ireland.
However, support for the party continues to build, particularly among younger voters.
Mr Varadkar was prime minister between 2017 and 2020, and was Ireland's first openly gay PM and the youngest-ever taoiseach.
The 42-year-old, whose father is Indian and mother is Irish was also the country's first biracial premier.
