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Notes -
Follow-up news to the recent referenda in Ireland; after the St Patrick's Day visit to the White House and now he's back home, Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.
Very unexpected news, and it does make one question if it's down to the abysmal failure of the recent referenda. Of course, he mentions "personal reasons" and that's also going to generate speculation as to what or why these may be.
Aw that sucks, and to think I was having so much fun spamming this everywhere:
/images/17109614903795052.webp
He’s the whitest looking head of state in the British isles, that’s gotta change.
In that case I'll reserve my judgement until I know who the replacement is.
There aren't any other non-white TDs (members of parliament) to make the attempt in the first place (and Varadkar is already half-Irish). At the moment it looks like Simon Harris is going to be the next Taoiseach, he's shifty-eyed even for a politician.
I thought Pascal Donohoe was lurking in the long grass, at least that was the state of play at lunch time, but seems like he's decided not to accept the poisoned chalice. The rush to not be nominated for the job makes me wonder if the possibles feel that going into an election next year as the replacement for Leo isn't going to be very desirable, so they'd rather put a sitting duck in charge to bear the brunt of any public anger, then step forward for the good of the party and the nation when said duck has had his feathers singed and needs to be replaced.
Well if the next Taoiseach is to be a sacrificial lamb I'm not too unhappy with it being Simon Harris, Helen McEntee would be my preference.
I can't really remember anything Simon has done in office, but look at the head on him and yeah, he better not buy any new curtains for the Taoiseach's office because he'll be out of the job after the election.
He's the "Covid-19 means there have been 18 other Covids" guy.
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