Tag: ireland

Why has Leo Varadkar suddenly resigned as Irish prime minister? | Politics News

Leo Varadkar’s decision to step down as prime minister of Ireland was so surprising that, according to reports, not even colleagues from his centre-right party, Fine Gael, saw it coming.

The Republic of Ireland’s taoiseach (the Irish Gaelic word for “chief” or “leader”), who will resign his post as prime minister as soon as a successor is chosen by his party and then approved by the Irish parliament, cut an emotional figure as he made his announcement on the steps of government buildings in Dublin on Wednesday after serving two terms as Irish premier – the first from 2017 to 2020 and the second since 2022. He will step down as his party’s leader with immediate effect.

With his party floundering in the polls, the 45-year-old said that another leader – and therefore another prime minister – would be “better placed” to tackle the next Irish general election, which must be held no later than March 2025.

“I believe this government can be re-elected,” he said. “I believe a new taoiseach will be better placed than me to achieve that – to renew and strengthen the top team, to refocus our message and policies, and to drive implementation. After seven years in office, I am no longer the best person for that job.”

Who is Leo Varadkar?

As the dramatic manner of his resignation suggests, Varadkar has not shied away from making political waves during his time as a front-line politician.

Indeed, when the former medical doctor became taoiseach in 2017 at the age of just 38, he immediately made history as the youngest, the first mixed-race and the first openly gay politician to occupy the premiership of Ireland, a European Union member state steeped in Catholic heritage.

Varadkar, who was born in Dublin to an Indian immigrant father and Irish mother in 1979, first went public with his sexuality during a radio interview with Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 in 2015 while serving as Irish health minister.

“I am a gay 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 listeners.

“It’s not something that defines me,” he added. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It’s just part of who I am … it is part of my character I suppose.”

Why is he stepping down now?

Varadkar’s attempt to modernise references to family and women in the country’s 87-year-old constitution in a dual referendum earlier this month resulted in a humiliating and heavy defeat for the taoiseach and his political allies.

The first question in the referendum asked Irish voters for permission to widen the definition of family by amending wording so it read that families can be established “on marriage or on other durable relationships”.

The second question asked citizens whether the clause – “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home” – should be deleted and another – “The state recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision” – added.

Varadkar had described the polls, which deliberately fell on International Women’s Day on March 8, as a chance to do away with “very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women”.

In the end, however, the nation disagreed with him and, while Ireland’s main political parties all campaigned for a “Yes, Yes” vote, Varadkar was particularly criticised for leading a “gimmicky” and “confusing” campaign.

“There are a lot of people who got this wrong and I am certainly one of them,” he said after the referendum results were announced.

Tom McTague, political editor of the UK’s UnHerd, summed up Varadkar’s immediate legacy by writing that he “resigned as all political leaders do: dispirited and unpopular, the sheen of his early years long since wiped away by the grinding realities of government. His party, Fine Gael, now trails badly in the polls. Ireland’s housing crisis borders on the obscene”.

Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, right, presents United States President Joe Biden with shamrocks during a St Patrick’s Day reception at the US White House, on Sunday, March 17, 2024 [Stephanie Scarbrough/AP]

What were his career highlights as Irish taoiseach?

Varadkar’s time at the top of government saw him serve five years as Irish prime minister and two as deputy prime minister (between 2020 and 2022).

When he first became taoiseach in 2017, Ireland’s nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, had recently voted to quit the European Union in its so-called Brexit referendum of 2016 – which also triggered the resignation of a prime minister, the UK’s David Cameron.

But after then-UK Prime Minister Theresa May declared that Britain’s departure from the EU would also mean its withdrawal from the bloc’s single market and customs union, the spectre of a hard border between EU member the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, loomed large.

Northern Ireland’s sensitive political history of sectarian conflict known as the Troubles – which lasted for nearly 30 years and ended in May 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement – became a major issue for Varadkar, who wanted to keep the flow of goods moving between the two jurisdictions without the need for security cameras or border posts dividing the island of Ireland.

Varadkar was at the centre of negotiations between the UK, the EU and Ireland on this issue, which saw a deal finalised after Northern Ireland was made to align with EU trading rules.

Varadkar namechecked this deal, which was recently modified as part of a deal to resume Northern Ireland’s devolved power-sharing government in February, as one of his main successes in his resignation speech.

“We prevented a hard border between north and south and protected our place in Europe,” he stated.

Varadkar oversaw the lifting of a near-total ban on abortion in 2018 when the country voted overwhelmingly in favour of reform of the country’s strict laws.

In recent months, Varadkar has publicly criticised Israel’s ongoing military campaign against the Gaza Strip.

Following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, the physically imposing premier (he stands 1.9m or 6ft 4in tall) departed from the Western narrative when he criticised the Israeli state’s military motives in the face of the rising Palestinian death toll, which has since surpassed 31,000.

“What I’m seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defence. It looks, resembles something more approaching revenge,” he said during a visit to South Korea in November 2023. “That’s not where we should be. And I don’t think that’s how Israel will guarantee future freedom and future security.”

When multiple nation donors suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after Israel accused it of employing members of Hamas, Varadkar was among the few leaders who pledged to continue sending money in February.

On March 15, just five days before he announced his resignation, Varadkar urged US President Joe Biden to work towards an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza during a St Patrick’s Day meeting in Washington with the American leader, who frequently refers to his own Irish heritage.

Simon Harris
Simon Harris, minister for further and higher education, research, innovation and science, leaves Dublin Castle after a cabinet meeting in May 2021. Harris is the favourite to replace Varadkar as Ireland’s taoiseach or prime minister [Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

Who will succeed Varadkar as Irish PM?

Ireland’s minister for higher education and former health minister, Simon Harris, is being widely touted as the favourite to succeed Varadkar as leader of Fine Gael, and become Irish prime minister.

At just 37, a victory for Harris would see him trump Varadkar as the youngest-ever Irish taoiseach if Fine Gael declare him as its new party leader on April 6, and he is voted in by the Irish Parliament after the Easter break.

Others initially seen as possible contenders, including enterprise minister Simon Coveney, minister for justice Helen McEntee and minister for public expenditure Paschal Donohoe, have ruled themselves out.

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Ireland PM Leo Varadkar to step down | Politics

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In a surprise address, Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced he’s stepping down as the country’s leader and would immediately resign as leader of the Fine Gael party. He’ll stand down as Taoiseach, or prime minister, as soon as a replacement is chosen after parliament’s Easter break.

Published On 20 Mar 2024

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Varadkar concedes defeat in Ireland’s referendum on family, women’s roles | Women’s Rights News

The Irish PM had called the referendum a chance to do away with ‘very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women’.

A dual referendum in the Republic of Ireland on redefining family and women’s roles in the constitution has been defeated, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.

The government supported the proposed changes, which would have widened the definition of the family and clarified the duties of women in society.

Varadkar had described Friday’s polls, which deliberately fell on International Women’s Day, as a chance to do away with “very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women”.
He said the government would accept the results.

“I think it’s clear at this stage that the family amendment and the care amendment referendums have been defeated – defeated comprehensively on a respectable turnout,” Varadkar said at a news conference in Dublin on Saturday.

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

Official results are expected later on Saturday.

The two proposals would have made changes to the text of article 41 in the Irish constitution, written in 1937.

The first asked citizens to expand the definition of family from those founded on marriage to also include “durable relationships” such as cohabiting couples and their children.

The second proposed replacing old-fashioned language around a mother’s “duties in the home” with a clause recognising care provided by family members to one another.

In effect, the proposal to spread the burden of care for people with disabilities to the entire family from only the mother became a dispute about the extent or willingness of the state to support carers.

A woman arrives with children at a polling station in Dublin, Ireland, March 8, 2024 [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters]

Polls had indicated a ‘Yes’ vote

All the major political parties had supported a “Yes-Yes” vote, and until recently, polls predicted a smooth passage for both.

But “No” campaigners argued the concept of a “durable relationship” was undefined and confusing and that women and mothers are being “cancelled” from the constitution.

Meanwhile, ultra-conservative voices argued the changes could constitutionally protect polygamous relationships and increase immigration via migrant family reunions – claims all denied by the government.

By 12:00 GMT on Saturday, it was clear that counting was showing a trend towards a “No” on the two questions.

The votes are the latest attempt to reflect the changing face of European Union member Ireland and the waning influence of the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church.

In recent decades, Ireland has transitioned from a conservative, overwhelmingly Catholic country to an increasingly diverse and socially liberal society.

This shift has been encapsulated in changes to an outdated constitution where single women, until 1973, had to resign from their jobs upon getting married, and married women could not apply for vacancies.

The constitution, the core legal text of the nation, can only be modified through a national referendum.

The country of 5.3 million opted to end constitutional limits on same-sex marriage in 2015 and abortion in 2018.

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Ireland votes in ‘women in the home’, ‘makeup of family’ referendums | Women’s Rights News

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says proposed constitutional amendments a chance to delete ‘very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women’.

Voters in Ireland are casting ballots in twin referendums on proposals to replace constitutional references to the definition of the family and women’s role in the home.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described Friday’s polls, which deliberately fall on International Women’s Day, as a chance to do away with “very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women”.

The two proposals, called the family amendment and the care amendment, would make changes to the text of Article 41 in the country’s socially conservative, 87-year-old founding document.

The first asks citizens to broaden the definition of family by removing a reference to marriage as the basis “on which the family is founded” and replace it with a clause that says families can be founded “on marriage or on other durable relationships”.

The second would remove a reference to women’s role in the home as a key support to the state. It would delete a statement that “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home” and add a clause saying the state will strive to support “the provision of care by members of a family to one another”.

Polls opened at 07:00 GMT and close at 22:00 GMT with results in both votes expected by late Saturday. Citizens who are 18 or older – about 3.3 million people – are eligible to vote.

Social transformation

The referendums are the latest to tackle outdated legislation in Ireland, where the Roman Catholic Church was once all-powerful. Since becoming a republic in 1937, Ireland has transformed from a conservative, overwhelmingly Catholic country to an increasingly diverse and socially liberal society.

The social transformation has been reflected in a series of constitutional changes in a country where single women until 1973 had to resign from their jobs upon getting married and married women were disqualified from applying for vacancies.

In 1995, Irish voters legalised divorce in a referendum. Twenty years later, they backed same-sex marriage, and in 2018, they repealed a ban on abortions.

“A woman’s place is wherever she wants it to be, and nothing less is acceptable in our constitution,” Orla O’Connor, director of Ireland’s National Women’s Council said on Wednesday while canvassing for a “yes” vote in central Dublin.

All the major political parties back the changes in Friday’s votes with recent opinion polls predicting a smooth passage for both proposals.

Turnout in focus

However, a low-profile campaign before the votes has not appeared to engage the electorate and could see a low turnout. In the past, low turnouts have boosted the proportion of people voting for the status quo.

“No” campaigners argue the concept of “durable relationship” is undefined and confuses voters and that women and mothers are being “cancelled” from the constitution.

Disability rights activists have also argued that the care amendment appears to portray disabled people as a burden on families with the state abdicating its role in providing care.

“I am confident that the sexist, harmful language of Article 41.2 will, in the future, be fixed,” Professor Siobhan Mullally, director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway’s School of Law, told the Reuters news agency.

“I am not so confident, however, that a future government will fix our continuing failure to commit to supporting the public good of care work – in families and communities.”

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Northern Ireland judge rules ‘Troubles’ violence amnesty breaches rights | Human Rights News

A new law that gives immunity from prosecution for most offences committed during Northern Ireland’s decades of sectarian violence is not compliant with human rights, a judge in Belfast has ruled.

The British government’s Legacy and Reconciliation Bill, passed in September, stops most prosecutions for alleged killings by armed groups and British soldiers during “the Troubles” – the period in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s during more than 3,500 people died.

The law has been widely opposed by people in Northern Ireland, as critics say it shuts down access to justice for victims and survivors.

Ruling on Wednesday in a legal challenge brought by victims and their families, Justice Adrian Colton said the law’s provision for conditional immunity from prosecution breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

The judge also said the law will not contribute to peace in Northern Ireland.

“There is no evidence that the granting of immunity under the act will in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland; indeed the evidence is to the contrary,” he said at Belfast High Court.

However, Colton ruled that a new body set up to probe Troubles killings, to be loosely modeled on South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, could carry out human rights-compliant investigations.

The United Kindom’s government said it will consider the ruling carefully but added that it remained “committed” to implementing the legacy bill.

Northern Ireland was the only part of Ireland to remain in the UK after the partition of the island in 1921. However, Catholics – who were once a minority but now form the majority of the population of Northern Ireland – generally wished to join the Republic of Ireland, whereas Protestants predominantly wished to remain in the UK.

That divide eventually lead to the Troubles, and to sectarian divisions that splintered towns and cities, and continue – in less entrenched forms – to this day.

John Teggart – the son of Daniel Teggart, who was killed during the Ballymurphy massacre in Belfast in 1971 – holds a banner in support of relatives and victims of the conflict known as ‘The Troubles’  in Belfast, Northern Ireland [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters]

‘Big questions’ for the UK government

Amnesty International said there were “significant questions” for the UK’s government to answer, and urged officials to repeal the law.

“The core part of this legislation was the immunity from prosecution. That has now been stripped out, struck out from the law. So it’s back to Parliament and back to the UK government about what they are going to do next,” said Grainne Teggart of Amnesty.

“There are big questions for the secretary of state for Northern Ireland to answer how he plans to proceed,” Teggart told Al Jazeera. “As Amnesty, we would urge him to now go back to the drawing board, to think again, to repeal this legislation and replace it with something that actually prioritises and respects victims’ rights.”

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Belfast, said there is potentially further action in the court.

“There is another action being brought in Europe by the Irish government as well, so this is not over yet,” Fawcett said.

“The judge did endorse that view, that by not addressing the claims for justice by victims, that itself could inhibit reconciliation going forward.”

In December, the government of the Republic of Ireland launched a separate legal case against the UK government over the Troubles law at the European Court of Human Rights.

The 1998 Good Friday peace accord largely ended violence in Northern Ireland, and British authorities say the law will allow the country to move on.

But those who lost loved ones have said the law would airbrush the past and allow killers to get away with murder. Dozens of legacy inquests have yet to be heard.

Martina Dillon, who was among those who brought the case, said she will “fight until I get truth and justice”. Her husband, Seamus, was shot dead in 1997.

Ongoing lawsuits include a case brought against Gerry Adams – the former leader of the nationalist political party Sinn Fein, which seeks the reunification of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – by three people who were wounded in bombings attributed to the Irish Republican Army more than 50 years ago.

The case is likely to be one of the last court efforts by victims seeking justice.

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Ireland to ICJ: Israel exceeds reasonable use of force limits | Israel War on Gaza

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Ireland argued before the International Court of Justice that Israel’s actions following the October 7 Hamas attacks exceed reason. In their argument to the hearing about legal consequences of Israeli occupation, Ireland added that it is dismayed by the current violence in Gaza and its wider implications for the peace process.

Published On 22 Feb 2024

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Roger Waters on Gaza, resistance and doing the right thing | TV Shows

The co-founder of the band Pink Floyd joins us for a conversation about activism, rock and resistance.

Roger Waters, the bassist, singer-songwriter and co-founder of Pink Floyd, has been an outspoken voice for Palestine for years. Often wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf when he performs in front of thousands around the world, Waters doesn’t hold back his criticism of Israeli government policies. But his activism has come at a cost. His political opponents have hit back with accusations of anti-Semitism and documentaries trying to vilify his beliefs.

Presenter: Anelise Borges

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Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill appointed Northern Ireland’s first minister | Government News

Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has been formally appointed Northern Ireland’s first minister by the regional parliament, the first time an Irish nationalist is leading the United Kingdom territory’s devolved government.

O’Neill’s appointment, confirmed by the speaker, on Saturday came after the rival Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the biggest pro-UK party, ended a two-year boycott of the region’s power-sharing government after striking a deal with the UK government to ease trade frictions.

“This is an historic day and it does represent a new dawn,” she told fellow legislators after her selection.

O’Neill’s ascent to the role is the latest sign of the increasing popularity across the island of her Sinn Fein party that now believes its ultimate dream of a united Ireland may be “within touching distance”.

The 47-year-old leader was nominated as the first minister in the government that, under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, shares power between Northern Ireland’s two main communities – British unionists who want to stay in the UK, and Irish nationalists who seek to unite with Ireland.

‘Days of second-class citizenship gone’

Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the UK in 1921, following independence for the Republic of Ireland.

“The days of second-class citizenship are long gone. Today confirms that they are never coming back,” O’Neill said.

“As an Irish republican, I pledge cooperation and genuine honest effort with those colleagues who are British, of a unionist tradition, and who cherish the Union. This is an assembly for all – Catholic, Protestant and dissenter.”

Neither side can govern without agreement from the other. Government business ground to a half over the past two years after the DUP walked out to protest trade issues related to Brexit.

O’Neill will share power with Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP, who has been named the new deputy first minister. The two will be equals, but O’Neill, whose party captured more seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2022 elections, will hold the more prestigious title.

Former DUP leader Edwin Poots was elected as speaker of the chamber.

O’Neill was elected to the Stormont Assembly in 2007 and comes from a family of Irish republicans.

Her party, Sinn Fein, was affiliated with the armed group, Irish Republican Army, during the so-called “Troubles”, a period of about 30 years of violent conflict over the future of Northern Ireland which ended with the Good Friday Agreement.

Former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, who helped broker the historic peace agreement, was in the gallery at the assembly to see O’Neill’s nomination.

‘Good day’

The return to government came exactly two years after a DUP boycott over a dispute about trade restrictions for goods coming into Northern Ireland from the UK. Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people were left without a functioning administration as the cost of living soared and public services were strained.

An open border between the north and the republic was a key pillar of the peace process that ended the Troubles, so checks were imposed instead between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

An agreement a year ago between the UK and the EU, known as the Windsor Framework, eased customs checks and other hurdles but did not go far enough for the DUP, which continued its boycott.

The UK government this week agreed to new changes that would eliminate routine checks and paperwork for most goods entering Northern Ireland, although some checks for illegal goods or disease prevention will remain in place.

The new changes included legislation “affirming Northern Ireland’s constitutional status” as part of the UK and gives local politicians “democratic oversight” of any future EU laws that might apply to Northern Ireland.

The UK government also agreed to give Northern Ireland more than 3 billion pounds ($3.8bn) for its battered public services once the Belfast government is back up and running.

“I believe that my party has delivered what many said we couldn’t,” DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said outside the assembly chamber in Stormont.

“We have brought about change that many said was not possible, and I believe that today is a good day for Northern Ireland, a day when once again our place in the United Kingdom and its internal market is respected and protected in our law and restored for all our people to enjoy the benefits of our membership of the union.”



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Paul Lynch: Is Prophet Song a mirror of modern-day fascism? | Arts and Culture

The Booker Prize-winning author dissects his tale of global conflicts and tyranny.

In a world where literature often mirrors the pulsating heart of society, Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song stands out as a beacon of emotional and narrative depth.

This masterpiece delves into the complexities of human experience, weaving a story that resonates deeply with the themes of tyranny and resilience.

Set against a backdrop that parallels global conflicts, Lynch portrays the struggles of a mother in a totalitarian regime, drawing parallels with real-world events.

We dissect how his novel is a poignant exploration of human spirit under oppression as Booker Prize winner, Paul Lynch talks to Al Jazeera.

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A remote island will pay you to live there — but there’s a catch

It’s never too early to start scoping out summer beach rentals.

Here’s one, on a private island of the coast of Ireland, that’s entirely free — in fact, they’ll pay you and a bestie to spend the entire season.

Stunningly picturesque, Great Blasket Island has a seal colony, endless ocean views, memorable scenery and prehistoric sites.

But there’s a catch.

You’re not there to soak up the sun — assuming there is any — but rather to run the island, which welcomes scores of visitors during the warmer months.

Your duties will include running the island’s cafe, and hosting guests at four adjacent holiday cottages.

While there’s a salary involved, the job description didn’t divulge the details, but this definitely sounds like hard work — the duo is required to meet and greet overnight guests, serve tea and coffee and ensure the day-to-day needs of the establishments are met.

Great Blasket Island is in need of two caretakers this year. Jam Press/Great Blasket Island

The pair will be hosted in the apartment above the coffee shop and share the main bedroom, while having full use of any amenities.

Food and accommodations are included, but everything else is your own responsibility.

The gig will last from April until October 2024 for the couple. A third and possibly fourth volunteer will be chosen to live in the second bedroom in June, July and August to help with the busier months.

The remote island off the coast of Ireland will pay two people to run the local coffee shop and host guests at the four holiday cottages.

Jam Press/Great Blasket Island

The island’s website lists that the job will require a “hardworking, responsible and trustworthy duo that have great people skills and initiative.”

The two will also need to speak English and be eligible to work in the European Union.

The posting warns that this is “not a holiday job.”

The job will require the duo to meet and greet overnight guests, serve tea and coffee to day visitors, and ensure the day-to-day needs of the establishments are met.

Jam Press/Great Blasket Island

“This is an intense position and caretakers must acknowledge that they are on an Island with very little resources,” the posting warned, but the island is only a short ferry ride away from Kerry.

The job posting also noted that “the season can get VERY busy and you will be on your feet for most of the day.”

But don’t worry if Great Blasket Island isn’t for you, it isn’t the only place offering to pay people to move in.

The pair will be hosted in the apartment above the coffee shop and share the main bedroom while having full use of any amenities.

Jam Press/Great Blasket Island

A region in Italy is paying people under 40 years old to move in and join their community.

Since 2021, the far-southern Italian region of Calabria has been attempting to bring fresh life to its depopulated countryside through a program called “active residence income,” and this month it retook the internet’s attention.

Better still, you won’t have to move out at the end of the summer. 

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