Leo Varadkar announces resignation as Irish Prime Minister and Party Leader

• Varadkar, Ireland's youngest PM, assumed the role in 2017.
• He leads the coalition government in Dublin, alongside Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.
• He oversaw referendums that changed the Irish constitution, legalizing same-sex marriage and abortion.

Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), will step down as party leader immediately and plans to resign as Taoiseach once his Fine Gael successor is selected. In his resignation announcement, Mr. Varadkar described leading his country as "the most fulfilling time of my life."

He assumed the position of Ireland's youngest PM in 2017 upon becoming Fine Gael leader. Currently, he leads the coalition government in Dublin, in conjunction with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.

Speaking from the steps of government buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr. Varadkar said he had "led Ireland from unemployment to full employment, from budget deficit to budget surplus, from austerity to prosperity".

He added that we were "proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women and their bodily autonomy".

During his time as Taoiseach, Mr. Varadkar oversaw referendums that changed the Irish constitution, legalizing same-sex marriage and abortion.

In the Irish general election of 2020, Mr. Varadkar's party, Fine Gael, secured a third-place finish in terms of the number of seats in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the country's parliament, under his leadership.

As part of the coalition deal struck between the parties, they agreed that Mr. Varadkar and Micheál Martin would each hold the position of Taoiseach for two years.

In 2020, Mr. Martin assumed the role of Taoiseach, with Mr. Varadkar serving as his Tánaiste (deputy PM), before the two swapped roles in 2022.

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