Under the terms of the governing coalition, Leo Varadkar has replaced Micheál Martin as head of government
FINE Gael leader Leo Varadkar was appointed as Taoiseach last week by President Michael D Higgins.
Mr Varadkar switches positions with Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin who gave in his resignation under the terms of the coalition deal struck between the parties in 2020.
The official event at Áras an Uachtaráin took place a short time after Dáil Éireann voted in a special sitting to elect Deputy Leo Varadkar, who has been serving as Tánaiste 2020, as Taoiseach by 87 votes to 62.
Taoiseach Varadkar said: "I'm honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to serve again. And I look forward to getting down to the hard work in the next few hours."
The new Taoiseach received a standing ovation from TDs on the government benches when his nomination was confirmed. He then congratulated Mr Martin "on the leadership he has shown as Taoiseach, for putting the country before politics, and for providing reassurance and hope during difficult times".
In his first cabinet reshuffle, Tánaiste Micheál Martin taking the Foreign Affairs and Defence portfolios and Simon Coveney switches to the Department of Enterprise.
Mr Varadkar said of his first election as Taoiseach centred on what it “represented and symbolised”. He was referring to the fact that he was the first Taoiseach to come from an Indian heritage, and the first to be openly gay.
Last week he said: “Today I think we should focus on where we are as a country and what needs to be done to prepare for the next century of statehood,” he said.
“Our history over the last 100 years has been about winning the additional freedoms that were denied to us or which we were unable to imagine.
“Becoming a republic. Becoming a place where you are not limited by your gender, religion, race, background or sexual orientation. Becoming a country where you are free to be yourself,” he added.
Mary Lou McDonald (Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)The Leader of the Opposition Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin offered her “good wishes to Deputy Leo Varadkar and his family as he enters the office of An Taoiseach for the second time”.
But she had significant words of criticism for the ruling parties. “Nearly three years ago, people voted for something new,” she said. “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael passed power between themselves for a century.
“Our people paid a heavy price for this perpetual merry-go-round. Financial crash and recession. Jobs lost, livelihoods ruined, homes repossessed. Austerity and vicious cuts to public services.”
Deputy McDonald was scathing of the coalition that produced the deal which saw Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar share the office of Taoiseach. “Following the 2020 General Election, your collective instinct was to come together to block that demand for change.
“After one hundred years of pretence, all it took to bring Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael together, was the threat to your power and position. In the end, what mattered most to you was keeping others out. “
She said that the collation has failed across a range of issues. She added: “I said back in 2020 that this broken way, this Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil way of doing business means that governments come, and governments go but nothing really changes.
“And so, it has come to pass.”
