People Before Profit welcomes the departure of Leo Varadkar from the office of Taoiseach. If the will of the people from the last election had been fully respected, he would never have held that position. Fine Gael only got 21% of the vote.
Varadkar presided over a country with a major housing crisis. Over 12,000 people are homeless, with many sleeping on the streets. His government has looked after landlords and the wealthy. Young people have been forced to emigrate because they either live in overcrowded conditions with their parents or else cannot afford the exorbitant rents.
In one of his last appearances, Varadkar travelled to the US to flatter the US President Joe Biden with a bowl of shamrock. This only exposed the contradiction at the heart of his politics. He was able to SOUND ‘progressive’ but yet actually do nothing. He appeared to show a concern for the people of Gaza but was careful not to upset his imperial master in Washington. He refused to expel the Israeli ambassador and has allowed the US army to use Shannon as a re-fueling base, despite its clear involvement in supplying Israel with deadly weapons.
His domestic policy followed the same pattern. He was a skin-deep liberal who tried to stay ahead of a mass movement that wanted real change. Despite being Ireland’s first openly gay Taoiseach, he rejected the very idea of marriage equality for a long time. He only reversed his position his position when a major movement emerged from below.
Similarly, Varadkar and Fine Gael voted down every attempt in the Dáil to liberalise Irelands’ archaic abortion laws until a mass movement forced an about turn.
Varadkar’s era represents the end of Fine Gael’ attempt to present itself as ‘progressive’. From here on, they will probably try to return to their traditional conservative roots and will adapt to the far-right stories about immigration. They will use the growing talk of a war in Europe to try to finally end Irish neutrality. They have already started on this path.
Yet Varadkar’s resignation also shows the problems at the heart of Irish right-wing politics. Nearly one third of Fine Gael TDs have announced they will not seek re-election. Fianna Fáil have lost their urban working-class base. Varadkar’s departure is deeply symbolic of a major shift that is underway.
It now looks almost certain that Simon Harris will be the next leader of Fine Gael – and by extension the next Taoiseach. Far from the change we need, he represents more of the same.
Just like Varadkar his liberalism is skin-deep. When first elected to the Dáil in 2011 he was an arch-conservative publicly opposing any moves to liberalise abortion laws – even threatening to vote against the government on the issue – before opportunistically rowing in behind the Repeal referendum when it was clear a mass movement from below demanded change.
His history as a minister is equally disastrous. As Minister for Health, he presided over ever-increasing waiting lists and an ongoing trolly crisis. It was also on his watch that the cost of the National Children’s Hospital spiralled out of control.
As Minister for Further and Higher Education, he claimed to champion apprenticeships and yet there are currently almost 9,000 apprentices waiting for off-the-job training.
With this track record, it is unsurprising that even Fine Gael members tell the Irish Independent that he “stands for nothing” and has “left a trail of promises in his wake”.
The new Taoiseach should not be decided by an internal Fine Gael process. We need a general election to give the people their verdict on this rotten government.
It is time to call time on the domination that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have held over Irish politics. We need a real left government.