Six foot four, better looking, not that it matters!

I mean, come on...all of these are better looking than Trump

Ain't Keith a magnificent example of humankind.

Everything's relative. Leo is probably to the left of where the Democratic Party is currently, and in any case many of those "commentators" are bullshit artists out to stir the pot. There isn't the width of a cigarette paper between most of the main political parties in Ireland, except for the chancers in the Trotskyite far left. What Varadkar was saying is that where certain emergency services are threatening to strike, but their unions and the employers agree to take the dispute to the nonpartisan Labor Court, the decision of the Court should be binding on all parties. Which is quite reasonable in my opinion.

which is probably the line he's had to walk to avoid undue attention from True Believers.

I offered a trade but had no takers.

so I don't think he would have shown too much. He's a very intelligent articulate guy, and I'm excited to see how he does. I believe he's well placed to deal with a resurgent Fianna Fail, who would buy and sell the Republican Party for being lying toe rags.

No trade on offer with me either !!!

should be terrified of conservatives, no matter which god they blame.

I have high hopes he will be a pleasant surprise, also. Yes, most of my family left in the 1880s, but the interest in what happens there remains.

... if the Irish diaspora recognizes Ireland's lead.

the look on assholes face , hahaha

on edit, he is not official pm but something called Taoiseach but since the media can't pronounce it they refer to him as PM .

nowadays as Prime Minister, though there is a direct translation of Príomh Áire.

The guy in the video is the current Taoiseach, but is leaving for young blood to come through.

perfectly acceptable. Btw it would be pronounced like this , Tee shock or Tee shook.

and the US has moved backwards. Sad isn't it?

Worse than we are, although we are catching up with them.

He was Health Minister for a time ... the time they hooked up a dead woman to 'life-support' because she was pregnant and had to be forced by court order to stop the obscenity. His campaign to become leader of the governing party began with demonising, excoriating and criminalising the poorest people in Ireland. Bear in mind also that his party was clandestinely funded by a corrupt businessman and Leo's stated reason for joining this Party happened in 1996 .... the year it was found out that that Party had corruptly sold a State asset to that corrupt individual.

His sexual orientation is neither here nor there and is not an issue in Ireland but his antipathy towards vulnerable groups is!

[link:|

that the 2008 crash gave a voice to. Varadkar is a qualified medical doctor, and a pretty intelligent guy. He would fit comfortably in the Democratic Party if he was in the US.

What he said was of course taken completely out of context by those gobshites

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/varadkar-i-want-ireland-to-be-a-country-that-rewards-work-1.3090811

The Minister for Social Protection who officially launched his leadership campaign on Saturday was asked on Sunday what he meant when he said he wanted to lead a party for “people who get up early in the morning”.

He said: “I want Ireland to be a country that rewards work and that rewards people who work hard, essentially, who want better lives for themselves, for their families, for their communities.

“And that of course includes many forms of work, it’s not just paid employment. There are a lot of people, for example who get up very early in the morning because they’re carers, or because they’re parents.”

He'd be a regular on Right-Wing Watch.

He and his party have held the reins of power since 2011 and they've shredded communities all over the Republic.

[link:

corrupt incompetence of the Fianna Fail government, it fell to Fine Gael and the Labour Party to take the hard decisions under the direction of the Troika (EU/ECB and IMF). We could have been a basket case like Greece, if they hadn't done what was required. I had 3 years of no work myself, we were lucky my wife kept her job, so we got through it. Fine Gael and Labour suffered badly at the elections for doing what was necessary, but now the economy is thriving thanks to them.

I'm sure you'll be rushing to balance your post with the previous positions Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had on similar issues ?

https://thinkprogress.org/timeline-tracking-barack-obamas-position-on-marriage-equality-3168f2d8ae60

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jun/17/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-change-position-same-sex-marriage/

... trying to get some shine onto Varadkar by linking him to the Democrats?

Let's have some honesty here. Irish citizens owe more per head of population than the Greeks. 'Doing what was necessary' is political-speak' for lying to the electorate in the full knowledge that Fine Gael & Labour were going to cave-in to the ECB. Ireland carries the second largest debt burden in the world behind Japan.

'Doing what was necessary' to Vradkar and his right-wing nut-job ilk means loading debt-upon-debt onto our children, our children's children and beyond.

And it was Varadkar's Fine Gael Party that complained during the Celtic Tiger era that there was too many regulations on financial institutions .... let me REPEAT that: too many regulations on financial institutions .... and Varadkar didn't demur.

Ireland had 10 months cash left in 2010, that's why the IMF had to come in. Are we now the Land of Milk & Honey ? No, but we are streets better than we were 6 years ago.

You do know Varadkar was only first elected a TD in 2007, don't you ? Yes, FG as a party wanted fewer regulations, but they weren't in Government !!! They were out of Government from 1997 to 2011, but led one of the finest Governments with the Labour Party and WP from 1994 to 1997, which laid the foundation for the subsequent success of the economy. You go back through the history of Ireland since 1922 and whenever Fianna Fail screwed the country, it's been left to FG/Lab to fix it.

I don't know where you're from, but you have a very poor knowledge of what we went through. The Troika (ECB/EU/IMF) were already in Ireland before FG/Lab came into government. Fianna Fail had already agreed to the MOU with the Troika, for the $85bn bailout, and the onerous terms. They lost the General Election a few months later, leaving all the shit on the lap of FG/Lab, and then jumped on the other side to moan about all the terrible cuts the Government had to bring in !!! You couldn't make that shit up !!!

"Doing what was necessary" WAS necessary. The Trots & Shinners were all gung-ho, egging on Syriza in Greece, until they realized the harsh realities of having no cards to play. Syriza hasn't been mentioned by them since

And as for you "loading debt-upon-debt onto our children, our children's children and beyond", State debt is different from personal debt, the most important thing is the interest rate on that debt is as low as it can be, each time it is refinanced. Over time, that debt will be less in real terms.


http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/why-do-the-irish-still-owe-more-than-the-greeks-1.3001026

It’s the poster boy for Europe; the former “PIIG” which shrugged off the shackles of austerity and returned to economic growth, slashing its sovereign debt in the process.

And yet if this is so, then why does Ireland continue to carry a shocking level of debt per person, the highest in Europe and the third highest out of 49 countries worldwide?

As KBC Bank chief economist Austin Hughes sees it, it’s a bit of a case of “lies, damned lies and statistics”.

On the one hand, our debt is shrinking: from a peak of about €225 billion back in 2012-2013, debt has fallen back to about €200 billion. This means Ireland has the 25th highest level of debt of any country in the world, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg, with total outstanding sovereign debt of $223.9 billion. This puts it far behind the United States ($16.2 trillion); Japan ($10 trillion); China and the UK ($2.7 trillion). It is also lower than Greece ($339.7 billion) and Portugal ($258.7 billion).

“We’re one of the few countries where debt has started to ease, partly because bank-related debts are unwinding,” says Hughes.

Debt-to-GDP ratio

Moreover the debt-to-GDP ratio, the typical metric to determine whether debt is sustainable – tracking, as it does, a country’s debt to its income – is also slumping, down to 77.9 per cent from a high of 125 per cent reached in June 2013, and is forecast to fall to 76 by year end.

His document 'Taking Ireland Forward' also outlines plans to "restore" free education by increasing the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance by 50pc in two years.


Mr Varadkar wants to "substantially increase capital spending" about what is already planned in the 10 year National Development Plan.

The new capital plan will include long delayed projects like Dublin Metro, the M20 between Cork and Limerick, motorway access to the West and North-West and further investment in housing.


On public sector pay he said he supports an extension of the Lansdowne Road Agreement but the talks which get underway today must "secure public sector pensions on a more sustainable footing".

SNIP


He also promises to extend “a form of Jobseekers Benefit” to the self-employed in the event they go out of business.

On pensions he wants to automatically enrol workers under 60 into a ‘MySaver’ personal pension savings account with contributions from employees and employers, and a bonus from the state similar to the SSIA.


There will be an opt-out for employees and an opt-in for the self-employed, homemakers, carers and others.


"At the heart of a successful economy must be a strong enterprise sector whose success is built on innovation, exports, entrepreneurship and competitiveness. A prudent budgetary policy will be central to this approach," Mr Varadkar said.


"The private sector will be asked to play its part in forging a new social contract. We want good jobs, not just more jobs."“So we will improve the quality of employment by enhancing employment rights, pensions and pay.

"Employment, in particular quality, secure and well-paid employment, is the best way to achieve financial independence and prosperity for our citizens."

ployed and has proposed having prisoners pay for their own room and board. People think this is a "win" for the left because he is gay and the son of an immigrant, but this guy is no liberal champion by any means.

He is also anti-choice in a nation of women who are struggling to have their voices heard and their reproductive rights granted.

People in the US don't understand that we've had 90 years of civil war politics, not Left/Right. 90% have been blaming one side or the other for the 26/6 counties split.

It's only since the economic collapse that the Trotskyite far left (AAA/PBP etc) have gotten any sort of traction, while the far right (Immigration Control etc) are still a laughable joke (maybe a couple of hundred votes at best in constituency races). Then there's Sinn Fein who are nationalist with the overwhelming core aim of a United Ireland, so will (and have) shift policy positions to what ever will help them achieve their aims.

All the rest are various hues of Social Democratic politicians from the Social Democrats to the Greens to Labour to Fianna Fail, and to (on the right of that Social Democratic range) Fine Gael. Varadkar has placed himself to the right within Fine Gael, but I suspect a fair bit of that was playing to the more conservative elements within FG, fearing that his being gay might affect his status. Time will tell, now that he is about to be named Taoiseach, and doesn't have to play to any faction. There are certain things the Irish people are used to, and he will know that.

In any case, they ALL believe that no child should be left behind and that all people should have the right to healthcare. And that includes Varadkar.

As regards your "Deport immigrants" comment

Mr. Varadkar was accused of racism in 2008 after he suggested in the Dail that unemployed immigrants should be paid to leave the country. He denied the accusation and said he was talking about a voluntary program, not forced deportation.

Trump is a germaphobe, and probably thinks Gays have cooties...