5 Things Leo Can Kiss Goodbye To Once He’s Taoiseach
WITH Enda Kenny stepping down as Taoiseach, it’s up to the newly-elected leader of Fine Gael to step up and take his place as the new prime minister of Ireland; Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
But this new position is going to be a huge challenge even for a career politician such as Leo; here’s 5 things he’ll have to get used to now that he’s in the driving seat:
1) No more accountability
It’ll be hard to go from a minister who had to be accountable for all his actions, to being the Taoiseach who can just delegate blame to flunkies left and right. Leo may find that he ‘owns up’ to mistakes and calamities during his first few months, before blaming it on a high-profile public servant and spinning the story to suit himself becomes second nature.
2) Kiss goodbye to any plans you had in March
Whatever your March used to entail Leo, you can say bye-bye. You’re going to be too busy on cushy all-expenses paid trips to Washington to meet the president with a nice bowl of shamrock, and all the glitzy trappings that come along with it. No more St. Patrick’s day trips to a paper mill in Delaware for Varadkar!
3) No more financial instability
We’re not suggesting for a second that the Castleknock-born career politician Varadkar was hurting for this month’s gas money, but he wasn’t exactly on a Taoiseach’s wages, with a Taoiseach’s pension and a Taoiseach’s expense account… knowing you’re set for life will certainly scramble his brain for a while.
4) No more private opinions
Leo got away for ages with his anti-abortion, anti-poor viewpoints, simply by not being in the spotlight. Last year, he could mutter under his breath about how he equated a flight to Liverpool to terminate an infant with a fatal foetal abnormality with say, a flight to Las vegas to see Britney Spears and play a bit of blackjack… nobody was really listening. Not anymore, Leo!
5) He’s no longer “Leo”
When he take up the position of leader of the country, he will no longer be known as ‘Leo Varadkar’, or indeed ‘Taoiseach Varadkar’… he’s now: Leo Varadkar, half-Indian, gay, younger-than-usual, gay, half-Indian, revolutionary new ground-breaking inspirational half-Indian gay man. Try getting that on a business card Leo!