Do we like them?Do we like Leo Varadkar?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Strong, long record on marriage equality, trans people and abortion, held back by a contested line on immigration pace and an admitted lapse over a document.
Varadkar grew up in Dublin's Blanchardstown and Castleknock, the son of a GP father who came from India. He was hooked on politics at seven, joined Young Fine Gael at Trinity and, by his own account, failed his 1999 exams because he was out campaigning in council elections. He won a council seat in 2003, got into the Dáil in 2007 and built a combative reputation on the way up to the top job.
The defining chapter is 2015. He came out publicly on RTÉ radio during the marriage equality campaign, and later said it felt like emigrating, because his social world changed overnight. He has said the referendum win spurred the government on to the Gender Recognition Act and the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, which passed 66 to 34. That is a record most people on this page will cheer.
The stain is the GP contract. It was alleged that in 2019 he gave a confidential agreement to the head of a GPs' lobby group that was not party to the talks. Gardaí investigated, the DPP directed no charges, and the ethics watchdog first declined to investigate, was sent back by the High Court, and declined again in December 2024. He said it was contrary to best practice but not unlawful, and in his memoir interview admitted “Obviously, it was the wrong thing to do.”
On the harm check, his own words are good. In 2023 he said he hated seeing trans people targeted as a threat to children, adding they are “no more a threat to others than any other group in society.” In 2026 he warned that LGBTQ+ rights in Europe face a chill wind from Russia and the US. The contested bit is immigration: in 2024 he told a US college paper numbers had risen too quickly, while also warning against rising populism and prejudice. Where you land depends on whether you read that as honest talk or as feeding the other side. We found nothing about him platforming or working with people pushing harm.
The recent stoush was self-inflicted. On a podcast he said what suits farmers is by and large not in the interest of Ireland as a nation, and that rural people get subsidies and tax benefits others don't. Rural Fine Gael TDs were furious, and an Independent Ireland MEP accused him of sneering at farmers. Within days he told The Irish Times he had gone too far on some points, though he stood by others, which is a fair way to cop it.
So, would we back him? Mostly yes. He has put his name and career behind the rights of gay and trans people and women, owns his mistakes in public, and nothing in the record shows him cosying up to people who push hatred. The immigration comment and the GP document are real marks, but one is contested politics and the other is an error he has admitted and two watchdogs and a prosecutor did not pursue.