Leo Varadkar

Irish prime minister abruptly resigns after voters choose family values

Resignation comes days after prime minister's anti-family amendments were overwhelmingly rejected by voters

Yudi Sherman
Leo Varadkar
  • Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar suddenly resigned Sunday due to "personal and political" reasons
  • Varadkar recently suffered a major political defeat when Irish taxpayers overwhelmingly voted down two anti-family amendments he tried to push through
  • "Clearly we got it wrong," said a shocked Varadkar when the amendments were handily rejected

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar resigned suddenly Wednesday in what observers are calling a shocking move. The prime minister will remain in office until his replacement is elected.

“I know this will come as a surprise to many people and a disappointment to some, but I hope you will understand my decision,” Varadkar said in a press conference Wednesday. While he did not specify the reason for his resignation, he said it was due to “personal and political” factors.

Varadkar, who was celebrated for being “the first openly gay taoiseach (prime minister),” was also openly committed to globalist ideals. He has previously lamented that Ireland is “very White” and lacks “diversity” in certain professions. Last year the prime minister cracked down on taxpayers for opposing mass immigration after a Muslim immigrant stabbed three children. In a meeting with Joe Biden at the White House Sunday, Varadkar spent much of his remarks criticizing Israel.

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The prime minister’s resignation comes less than two weeks after suffering a major political defeat. Irish lawmakers led by Varadkar recently proposed two amendments that would have struck pro-family language from the Constitution. Both were overwhelmingly rejected by voters.

Article 41.2 of Ireland’s Constitution declares, “[T]he State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall therefore endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

Some Irish officials took issue with the article’s language about women being vital to the home, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar calling it “very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women.” In 2022 the Joint Committee on Gender Equality of the Irish Government called for a referendum on the item and demanded that it be changed to language that is more “gender-neutral” and less “sexist.” An amendment was proposed to remove the term “woman” entirely from the article.

Another constitutional amendment was put forth to change the definition of family from one that is founded on marriage to one that includes any “durable relationship,” such as unmarried cohabitation.

When voters rejected the anti-family amendments, it came as an unexpected shock to government officials and other elites.

“Clearly we got it wrong,” Varadkar said at a press conference. “While the old adage is that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I think when you lose by this kind of margin, there are a lot of people who got this wrong, and I am certainly one of them.”

“It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘Yes,’ and we clearly failed to do so,” he added.

According to poll results, 73.93% of voters rejected the amendment on the definition of family, while 67.7% rejected the amendment on the language about women in the home.

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