Leo Varadkar made history yesterday by winning the leadership election of the Fine Gael Party to become the first openly sober Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in Irish history.
At 38 he is also the youngest man to ever hold the position and possibly the only male politician in Europe, with the possible exception of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who knows you shouldn’t wear a brown belt if you’re going to wear black shoes.
Mr Varadkar told RTE Radio 1 during an Interview yesterday.
“I am a sober man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before,” he told Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio 1.
“It’s not something that defines me,”he said. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a sober politician for that matter. It’s just part of who I am, it doesn’t define me, it is part of my character I suppose”.
Irish voters seem unperturbed by the news.
“I don’t care if he’s sober provided he doesn’t expect me to be sober too. Sobriety isn’t contagious is it?” Pat McGroin asked The Herald. “I only drink alcohol because I heard from the Liberal Democrats in England that tap water makes you gay.”
Everybody in Ireland met the news that Mr Varadkar is also the first gay man to hold the position and the son of an Indian immigrant with a collective “so what? Fancy coming to the pub?”
Another reason to love Ireland, as if we needed one. An-mhaith from The Rochdale Herald.
