The chamber had cleared. The public gallery was empty too. The last of many TDs to shake Leo Varadkar’s hand was walking out the door. Suddenly, the new Taoiseach found himself alone on the floor of a silent, deserted chamber.

He stood still, looking ahead, until the Captain of the Guard arrived to escort him up the steps to the top corner, where his partner and mother and father were waiting.

Miriam Varadkar held out her arms. “Well done, Taoiseach!” she smiled, bursting with pride.

The little group stayed back and talked in the empty chamber. “Am I the only mother here who teared up?” asked an usher.

“I’ve already done that,” replied Miriam. The two women agreed it was a bit like watching their boys’ First Holy Communion.

And as the crowd regrouped outside Leinster House and officials prepared the area around the plinth for the Taoiseach’s departure to Áras an Uachtaráin, his mother told the story yet again of Leo’s Communion day, when he fell over and dirtied the knees of his lovely white “John Travolta” trousers. “He was very upset and I washed them and dried them for him and put them back on him.”

The sort of things you talk about when your 38-year-old has just become Taoiseach.

Somebody signalled and the timetable kicked in again. “See you later!” said Leo, before he was swallowed up again in the embrace of officialdom and the duties of high office.

Fast-forward to nearly six hours later and it seemed like Taoiseach Varadkar had already assimilated one of his predecessor’s bad habits: bad timekeeping.

He had been due to announce his ministerial line-up at 6.30pm but didn’t make it back into the chamber until 8pm. It was rumoured that some of his nominees were battling for better portfolios, while others reckoned Mary Mitchell O’Connor had chained herself to the leg of his table in an attempt to have her demotion from a full ministry to a “super junior” position reversed.

Fianna Fáilers joked that it was all down to Micheál Martin, who hadn’t approved all of Leo’s choices and ordered him back to the drawing board.

It was already known that Michael Ring would finally reach his El Dorado and bag that elusive seat at cabinet after many years trying. At teatime, he bustled along the main corridor and up the stairs leading to the walkway to Government Buildings, passing a group of Leinster House lifers on the way. They erupted into a chorus of raucous cheers. “Up, ya boya! Winner all right! Winner all right!”

Ringo was wearing a new suit. He affected not to hear, but his discipline gave out halfway up the stairs. He pivoted and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd, nearly falling down the stairs in the process. He looked like he was going to explode with joy. There won’t be a hanging basket weeded in Westport tonight, we imagined. But for all that, he wasn’t the happiest Minister in the House.

Neither was Paschal “double-barrel” Donohoe, who was handed two plum economic departments in one. Neither was Sandymount’s Eoghan Murphy, who was too cool to look ecstatic with his elevation to Cabinet.

No, it was the undefeated and still-reigning Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald, who was smiling at the beginning of the day and was still smiling at the end of it. In accordance with convention, it was (just about) taoiseach Enda Kenny who kicked off proceedings at midday when he rose to nominate Leo for the office.

“He speaks for a new generation of Irish men and Irish women.”

Varadkar was seconded by backbencher Josepha Madigan, who didn’t appear to get the memo instructing the FG women to wear shades of blue and navy. “For this beloved country of ours, you are the right person or the right time,” she declared, in shocking pink.

This kicked off two hours of speechifying. It got a bit tedious after the first hour, but Leo’s partner Matthew looked interested enough and his parents Miriam and Ashok were enthralled.

Micheál Martin said the new Taoiseach had a good start by deciding to get someone other than deputy Noel Rock to nominate him. Noel, delighted with the mention, gave him a happy thumbs-up. The Fianna Fáil leader noted Leo’s colleagues were impressed by his “open approach to the media” and how “for many years he has been renowned as the most accessible source in Government”.

Minister for Health Simon Harris shot a wan glance up towards the press gallery. Surely some mistake on the media accessibility front?

“Today the time for excuses ends. The Fine Gael Party has the dominant control of Government” and must start getting things done, concluded Micheál, omitting to mention that Fianna Fáil has its foot on Fine Gael’s throat with a minority support deal.

As the talking continued, Leo looked a little overawed by his new situation. He sat with his hands in his lap, twisting his fingers about and wringing his hands. Now and then, he turned to Enda and whispered a question. With each query, Enda got more talkative, using lots of hand gestures.

Gerry Adams feared Leo will drag the Government “even further to the right”. But he has nothing against him personally. “I think he is a decent man. I wish him well. I do not know him well, though he and I once attended the same pilates class.”

A wave of nausea washed over the chamber. Gerry smiled sweetly. Leo nodded. Guilty as charged. “We couldn’t get the former taoiseach to stretch as far as that,” continued Gerry. Enda looked a bit mystified. Michael Ring stepped in. “It wouldn’t be big in Mayo, the pilates,” he boomed.

Brendan Howlin revisited the whole gay, son-of-an-Indian-immigrant part of Taoiseach Varadkar’s story. “As you said yourself, it speaks well of this Republic.” (Actually, it doesn’t. It was the small, closed shop of the Fine Gael parliamentary party which selected Leo, before people start losing the run of themselves.)

Howlin, noting the contributions about Varadkar’s reported right-wing tendencies, remarked that Leo, “the young chap in a hurry who enjoyed writing letters to The Irish Times”, had moderated his views over the years.

Joan Burton urged Leo to hit the ground running and get on his bike. Which sounds like an invite to a triathlon competition.

In the chamber, Leo looked so young. In the gallery, his surgeon partner, Matthew, looked so young. And around Leinster House, grizzled old politicians and journalists sorrowfully mused that you know you’re getting old when the guards, the cardiologists and the taoisigh begin looking younger.

Richard Boyd Barrett didn’t think it makes any difference whether a Varadkar, a Kenny or a Coveney becomes taoiseach. They’re all the one. He might have a point there. Mick Wallace was making furious notes with a pink pen. He got in the mentions of Nama and the Garda Commissioner before wishing Leo the best of good luck and, with a glance to Enda, “good luck to the last fella”.

At this point, the Fine Gael TDs in the back row were passing around packets of sweets. Leo, meanwhile, kept looking up to family and friends in the public gallery for reassurance. At this stage, Enda Kenny’s hands were getting more animated with his asides. We didn’t know whether he was giving Leo tips about government or explaining the size of a fish he caught.

News came through that the Varadkar and FG gang were planning a big party in the VIP area of Coppers. How very next-generational. Mattie McGrath was value for money, for the bits we could understand. He included some lyrics from a song by The Who called Won’t Get Fooled Again.

Leo looked slightly miserable, but that’s probably because he hadn’t toyed with his mobile phone since the proceedings began. The low hum of conversation buzzed around the chamber. But there was instant and utter silence for Michael Lowry when he told Labour’s Brendan Howlin that comments he made about him earlier were “nasty and offensive”.

It was, of course, spat Lowry, all Alan Kelly’s fault. “Thanks,” chortled his hated constituency rival, Kelly. Don’t forget the broadband and internet in Kerry, shouted Michael Healy-Rae, while Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrat described the Taoiseach as “a man many would consider to have multiple diversities”.

Multiple diversities. That’s something. When Leo spoke in Irish, the Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, smiled at him like a happy Buddha. After the vote, a walk-though vote, nobody noticed the slick switch of seats between Kenny and Varadkar. This was due to an unmerciful scrum of politicians shouldering each other out of the way to meet Leo’s mammy.

He made his first speech. Brief, but well received. Then it was out to the car park to work the crowd. Which Leo did, with surprising enthusiasm. After the delayed second appearance in the chamber, the new Taoiseach finally finished his day. He isn’t back until next week. We wish him well.</s>To become head of government at 38 is a tremendous achievement. Yet Leo Varadkar knows as well as anyone that to become taoiseach is to reach a summit only to begin an even steeper climb. He is entitled to spend a day or so enjoying the view from the top, but the hard slog is just beginning. A sluggish, directionless government must be infused with the sense of urgency that has been so obviously lacking in its faltering career to date. Historic challenges must be faced. And if he is to face them, he will have to change. The conventional attitudes and traditional political skills he brings to the job will not be enough.

Varadkar embodies novelty, not just in Irish politics but in Irish society. His youth, his mixed ethnic heritage and his sexuality are all tokens of a profound change. This kind of novelty, though, wears off very quickly. Indeed, one of the most cheering things about his elevation is that the ways in which he is personally different have mattered so little. Any remaining sheen of newness will disappear as we get used to seeing him as taoiseach. If he wishes to retain the sense that a new start is being made, he will have to do more than be himself. The freshness must lie in new ideas and new approaches. What we don’t really know is whether he is capable of creating and sustaining them.

So far, Varadkar’s public career has been marked by a rather languid presence. He is popular because he has adopted, even in office, the relaxed, open, speculative demeanour of an outside observer. His tangible achievements are few. His efforts to divide Ireland into “people who get up early in the morning” and the scroungers targeted in his ill-conceived campaign against welfare fraud were poorly judged. His havering between presenting Fine Gael as a party of the middle class on the one hand and embracing traditional catch-all policies on the other makes him hard to define.

None of this will be good enough for a taoiseach who has to deal with multiple crises: the increasing uncertainties of the Brexit mess, a dysfunctional housing market, a radically inadequate health system, a lack of investment in infrastructure and the long-term effects of austerity policies on child poverty. These are emergencies and they demand a kind of leadership we have not had: dynamic, relentless, focussed and capable of giving to a drifting State a firm sense of direction.

Even at a time of scepticism about politics, Varadkar enjoys widespread goodwill. He has not arrived where he is today without showing intelligence, dexterity, ambition, articulacy and ruthlessness – all necessary qualities for a party politician. But to be a taoiseach who transcends his own party, he will need to discover other qualities, not least a passionate refusal to accept the unacceptable.</s>When Leo Varadkar assumed power in Ireland on Wednesday, he blazed a trail of firsts: At 38 years old, the biracial son of an Indian immigrant father and Irish mother became the country's youngest-ever taoiseach, or prime minister.

He also became the first openly gay man elected to lead the Republic of Ireland, where homosexuality was illegal until just 24 years ago.

Now, as newly elected leader of the ruling Fine Gael party, Varadkar has delivered his first speech to Parliament and received his seal of office from the country's president, Michael D. Higgins.

"The government that I lead will not one of left or right, because those old divisions don't comprehend the political challenges of today," Varadkar told lawmakers Wednesday.

"So the government that I lead will be one of the new European center as we seek to build a republic of opportunity," he continued, "and that is a republic in which every citizen has a fair go and has the opportunity to succeed and in which every part of the country has the chance to share in our prosperity."

Despite Varadkar's firsts, Irish media and voters are "not obsessed about his sexuality or his racial origins," The Guardian's Henry McDonald tells NPR's Ari Shapiro. Rather, it's the center-right politician's policies that have been the subject of significant debate.

"Some people label him a Thatcherite," McDonald says. "They think he's a kind of a son of Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister — right of center, very pro-free market, you know, in the style of Thatcher and Ronald Reagan."

These rightward-leaning economic stances stand in contrast with his generally liberal positions on abortion rights and other social issues — and they drew criticism from Varadkar's rival for his party's leadership, Simon Coveney. Varadkar, who defeated Coveney earlier this month, appointed him the party's deputy on Tuesday.

Varadkar cemented his win Wednesday, with a confirmation parliamentary vote of 57 to 50, with 47 abstentions.

His predecessor, Enda Kenny, lauded the man he'd nominated as his replacement.

"As the country's youngest holder of this office, he speaks for a new generation of Irish women and Irish men," he said earlier this month, according to the BBC. "He represents a modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland and speaks for them like no other, an Ireland in which each person can fulfill their potential and live their dreams."</s>Fiachra O'Cionnaith, Political Correspondent, gives a round-up of Leo Varadkar's first day as Taoiseach in quotes.

New Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, outlines what his plans will be in power:

"The government I lead will not be one of left or right. While others in the house may be obsessed with the debates of the 1980s, I can assure you I am not and nor will my Government.

"So the Government I lead will be one of the new European centre, as we seek to build a Republic of opportunity, and that is a Republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and has the opportunity to succeed."

And pays tribute to now former taoiseach Enda Kenny - a man he is accused of effectively forcing from office:

"On a personal note, I would like to add, were it not for Enda Kenny I have no doubt I would not be standing here in this seat today."

New best friend Enda Kenny repays the tributes:

"You are the right person for the right time."

After congratulating Mr Varadkar, Fianna FÃ¡il leader Micheal Martin puts down a marker for future battles:

"Even his most ardent supporters have had to strain themselves to claim he has more than a modest policy record as a minister."

But shows his lighter side by saying there is at least one difference between the old boss and the new one:

"He [Mr Varadkar] has today started well by getting somebody other than Noel Rock to nominate him. As we all know, that didn't work out too well last time."

Labour leader Brendan Howlin questions the "liberal" revolution of appointing a gay first generation Irish person Taoiseach:

"I want to believe you will re-start the engine of Government. But I'm afraid I don't expect much."

Who knew Sinn FÃ©in leader Gerry Adams was such good friends with Leo Varadkar?:

"I wish him [Mr Varadkar] well. I do not know him well, though he and I once attended the same pilates class. We could not get the former Taoiseach to stretch as far as that."

Well, maybe not 'friends' exactly, judging by Mr Varadkar's response:

"I also thank Gerry Adams for revealing our little secret. He was much better at it. Perhaps he has greater experience of being in a tight squeeze."

Unaligned Independent TD Mattie McGrath is not always known for his erudite quotes, but even so, this 1970s rock music-inspired cabinet reshuffle tongue-twister took everyone by surprise:

[After referencing, to laughter, The Who classic 'Don't Get Fooled Again', and its lyric "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"] "Yeah, Who. Who's who now, but who will be who over there this evening?"

Forget the jogging, cupcakes and fluffy PR stunts, Leo. Greens leader Eamon Ryan isn't buying any of it:

"You're too right wing, and despite all the pilates and frappo-ccinos, and jogging, there's not a scintilla of Green in you."

"Just because someone comes from a diverse background doesn't mean they have empathy for people from that background."

Don't worry though Enda, at least one person still remembers you:

[Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace, after saying he wishes Mr Varadkar well] "And good luck to the other fella too."</s>Leo Varadkar has been elected Ireland’s youngest Taoiseach ten years to the day after he first entered the Dail as a newly elected TD.

He was elected by 57 votes. There were 50 votes against and 45 abstentions.

Mr Varadkar said there is no greater honour for any Irish politician and was deeply honoured.

As he made his acceptance speech, during which his parents watched from the visitors’ gallery, he paid fulsome tribute to his immediate predecessor Enda Kenny.

Mr Kenny had not just made his political career possible, he said, but in bringing in marriage equality he had also made him an equal citizen. Mr Varadkar, 38, from Castleknock, is gay.

The new Taoiseach said the government he will lead will be neither right-wing nor left-wing and that he had no interest in fighting the political battles of the 1980s.

The new Irish government would be centrist, and European.

One of his first actions as Taoisech, he said, would be to telephone British Prime Minister Theresa May to express Irish sympathies for the North Kensington fire and to express solidarity with the people of London who had endured so much in recent weeks.

He said also that later this week he would meet Northern Ireland’s political parties and repeated that the Irish government has an important role as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.

His first official act was to propose suspension of the Dail for four hours while he travelled to Aras an Uachtarain to be officially appointed to the office by President Michael D Higgins.

In the meantime, discussions were to take place on his new, reshuffled cabinet.</s>Leo Varadkar was elected Irish Prime Minister on Wednesday, making the 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant the first gay premier of the once-staunchly Catholic country and the youngest person to hold the office.

Despite inheriting Europe's fastest-growing economy, he will face immediate challenges in the shape of neighboring Britain's exit from the European Union, a political crisis in Northern Ireland and a housing crisis at home.

Varadkar succeeded Enda Kenny earlier this month as leader of the Fine Gael party. Colleagues pinned their hopes of an unprecedented third term on the straight-talking Varadkar, who they believe can widen their appeal in elections that may be triggered as soon as next year.

"Enda Kenny's leadership enabled me to become an equal citizen in my own country two short years ago and to aspire to hold this office, an aspiration I once thought was beyond my reach, at least if I chose to be myself," Varadkar said in reference to Ireland's 2015 vote to legalize gay marriage.

"The government I lead will not be one of left or right. The government I lead will be one of the new European center as we seek to build a Republic of opportunity, that is a Republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and in which every part of the country stands to share in our prosperity."

Varadkar's elevation marks another chapter in the social change that has swept through the country of 4.6 million people that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 and legalized divorce two years later.

"As the country's youngest holder of this office, he speaks for a new generation of Irish women and Irish men, he represents a modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland and speaks for them like no other," Kenny told parliament, nominating his successor.

However it is his policies that will attract more scrutiny at home with opponents warning that the former health, tourism and social protection minister, who first joined the center-right party aged 17, would nudge it further to the right.

While analysts expect few major policy shifts from Varadkar and his new cabinet, the new Fine Gael leader has hinted at some changes.

He has pledged to introduce a less ambitious debt reduction target than the one set by Kenny's government last year, and to lobby the EU for additional leeway to free up more funding for badly needed infrastructure projects.

On Brexit, he wants Northern Ireland, a British province, to remain in the EU's single market and retain access to as many EU programs as possible to ensure it secures a "soft" Brexit that he has said appears more likely following last week's British election.

Varadkar told parliament on Wednesday that Ireland would hold a referendum next year on liberalizing Ireland's abortion laws, currently among the most restrictive in Europe.

European Council President Donald Tusk, tweeting words of congratulations in the Irish language, assured Varadkar that his fellow EU leaders shared a "great sensitivity" about the challenge the island of Ireland faces in the Brexit talks.

Varadkar, who took his seat in parliament 10 years ago to the day on Wednesday, named Paschal Donohoe finance minister, replacing the retiring Michael Noonan. Donohoe will also retain his existing portfolio as public expenditure minister.

Donohoe, 42, has managed budgetary policy with Noonan for the last year and was previously transport minister where he successfully negotiated the sale of the state's 30 percent stake in former flag carrier Aer Lingus to IAG.

Varadkar also appointed his chief rival for the leadership, former housing minister Simon Coveney, as foreign minister.</s>Bright, articulate and with a knowledge of medicine, he is well placed to inflict pain on the Government - as long as he doesn't bite off more than he can chew, writes Carl O'Brien

Bertie Ahern rarely shows a flash of anger. Even at the height of incendiary Dáil debates, as Opposition politicians repeatedly lob verbal grenades in his direction, the Taoiseach usually remains stonily impassive.

All that changed a few days ago. In one of his first contributions to the Dáil, Fine Gael's rising star Dr Leo Varadkar - a 28-year-old trainee GP - lashed out at Ahern's flawed pedigree and provoked a waspish counter-attack from the Taoiseach.

Not since Ahern accused former Socialist Party deputy Joe Higgins of being a "failed person" who should just "go away", or Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell of being a "waffler", has someone managed to get on the Taoiseach's nerves so effectively.

The words which rankled so much with Ahern came towards the end of Varadkar's contribution to Fine Gael's no-confidence motion in the Taoiseach.

"Sadly," Varadkar intoned gravely, "this dark affair will darken the Taoiseach's record in the same way as Tony Blair's involvement in Iraq or Bill Clinton's personal scandals darkened theirs. History will judge the Taoiseach as being both devious and cunning, in the words of his mentor, master and, clearly, role model."

Ahern was stung. Not content with answering back, he lashed out at the new deputy a few days later and by way of a personal article published in a Sunday newspaper last week.

"When you hear a new deputy who isn't a wet day in the place not alone castigating me, but castigating Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, I wish him well. I'd say he'd get an early exit," Ahern said, with a hint of a malevolent smile.

Varadkar's rise within Fine Gael has been nothing short of meteoric. Just three years ago, he wasn't even a county councillor, not to mind a rising star in the party. Then, in the 2004 local elections, the trainee GP secured the biggest vote in the entire country.

He was comfortably elected to the Dáil last June in the bear-pit of Dublin West, a tightly contested three-seater constituency. Of all the young Fine Gael TDs elected to the Dáil this summer, he was the only one to secure a frontbench portfolio. He has even spoken openly about winning a ministerial job in a rainbow government.

Few were surprised, therefore, that he launched into an attack on the most powerful man in the Dáil during his first week in the Oireachtas with such confidence and vigour. Some in Fine Gael, however, are divided over this brash and ambitious face of the party.

"He took on Bertie like a heavyweight boxer trying to take out an opponent in the first round," says one deputy. "He's going to have to learn to pace himself out over 15 rounds instead."

"He's bright and articulate and very sure of himself, but that can rub up against people the wrong way," another TD observes. "I'd be wary of anyone who builds up a huge expectation so early on."

Others say he is exactly what Fine Gael needs if it is to provide a vigorous opposition over the life-time of the current government. "He's incredibly bright. He's the kind of person we want out there," says an admirer. "Fianna Fáil spared no time going after Nora Owen and others when we were in government. It's time for a taste of their own medicine."

Clearly Varadkar has the support of the party hierarchy, with Enda Kenny appointing him to the prominent position of enterprise spokesman. Despite being a new face in the party, he is, in many ways, an old-school, core values, right-of-centre Fine Gaeler. He believes in a strong law-and-order response to crime; he talks passionately about free market economics; and he waxes on about the need for integrity in public life.

Could he be - whisper it - the Michael McDowell which Fine Gael never had on its benches, yet craved for so long? A clue to Varadkar's stunning political success lies in how he has campaigned in the Dublin West constituency since he was elected as a councillor in 2004.

Over the last few years he has displayed a sharp eye for attention-grabbing publicity stunts and a finely-honed radar for populist causes.

Take the example of plans by Boots to open a methadone dispensing unit for recovering heroin addicts in a pharmacy in the Roselawn shopping centre in Castleknock.

Varadkar circulated literature around the area alerting people to the plans for a "methadone clinic" in the area, fired off declamatory press releases, and organised a major public meeting which hundreds attended. In the face of seething public anger, the managing director of Boots appeared at the meeting and announced the plan would be reversed.Varadkar didn't so much jump on a bandwagon as kick-start the entire show.

He has also made a number of controversial statements, such as supporting mandatory baptism certificates for children attending over-subscribed schools in the Porterstown parish, part of his constituency.

As well as eye-catching policy initiatives, he's not beneath using the odd tawdry election gimmick either; during the election campaign, for example, he distributed hundreds of Lion bars, emblazoned with the logo "Vote No 1 Leo the Lion".

Varadkar owes his distinctive name to his Indian-born father. Dr Astok Varadkar met his wife Miriam, a nurse from Waterford, when both were emigrants working in England. The family moved to Dublin, where Leo was born, in the mid-1970s. His parents now run a clinic in Castleknock where his father is a GP and his mother is the practice manager. It wasn't a political family, although he jokes that he recently discovered that his uncle was a socialist mayor for the city of Malvan in India.

While a student in the privileged setting of King's Hospital boarding school in Palmerstown, he joined Young Fine Gael. Friends who knew him at the time say he wasn't quite a young fogey in the mould of William Hague, who famously addressed a Tory party conference as a 16-year-old, although his ambition was evident early on. He is still friends with many of his contemporaries, including Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton, who was also elected to the Dáil for the first time this summer.

As a 20-year-old medical student in Trinity, he found time to run for the party in the 1999 local elections in Mulhuddart. He bombed in the poll, coming home in sixth position. Despite this, he continued to juggle his medical and political career, becoming campaign manager for Senator Sheila Terry in the Dublin West area.

He inherited her seat on Fingal County Council in October 2003 after she was forced to vacate it under the dual mandate system.

Ever since his impressive victory in the local elections a year later, there has been major tension between Varadkar and Terry. While both have different explanations for what happened, Varadkar was soon installed as the Dáil candidate for the constituency, much to the annoyance of Terry. She has since resigned from the constituency operation and did not campaign for Varadkar in the recent general election.

For all the dark mutterings about Varadkar, in person he is polite, confident and has the appearance of a sober-suited businessman. He is well aware that the Fine Gael party is littered with the carcasses of young know-it-all politicians whose careers fizzed brightly before expiring quickly.John Deasy, the uncompromising former justice spokesman, was tipped for great things before being dismissed from the party's frontbench a few years ago for smoking in the Dáil bar. Brian Hayes was also talked about as future leader material at one stage, before his hectoring style rubbed many up the wrong way and he lost his seat.

As for now, Varadkar is voraciously reading up on his new brief as enterprise spokesman. He'll have a busy time of it over the coming years, with dark clouds looming on the economic horizon. His knowledge of medicine could come in handy, too, as he seeks to try to inflict more pain on an embattled government.

If Varadkar faces any one challenge it's that he could backfire McDowell-style by building up too big a profile and turning off the public in the process. It's an observation shared by a few of his constituency rivals.

"He's a young man in a hurry, there's no doubt about that," says one. "The only danger is that he'll trip himself up in the process."

Who is he?

 A newly-elected 28-year-old TD for Fine Gael, recently appointed to a frontbench portfolio in the party as enterprise spokesman

Why is he in the news?

 Varadkar managed to get under the skin of Bertie Ahern with what the Taoiseach described as "gutter comments" about him in a recent confidence motion

Most likely to say:

 "Bertie's credibiliity is in tatters and he should resign now - the people deserve nothing less"

Least likely to say:

 "As a humble TD with little experience, I am not qualified to cast judgment on a Taoiseach with 30 years of distinguished service to the State"</s>London: Leo Varadkar, a 38-year-old Indian-origin doctor, on Wednesday scripted history by becoming Ireland's youngest and the first openly gay prime minister of the Catholic-majority country, as he promised to build "a republic of opportunity".

Varadkar, the country's first Indian-origin premier, officially took over from Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, as the Irish prime ministerial title is known, after a parliamentary vote in Dublin confirmed him as the leader by 57 votes to 50, with 47 abstentions.

The former general physician, who is the son of an Irish nurse and a doctor from India, won the Fine Gael party leadership earlier this month. He has made his leadership rival Simon Coveney the deputy leader of the party.

Addressing the Dail (Irish parliament), after his election, Varadkar said, "I've been elected to lead but I promise to serve."

"The government that I lead will not be one of left or right because those old divisions don't comprehend the political challenges of today. The government I lead will be one of the new European centre as we seek to build a republic of opportunity," Varadkar asserted.

He then travelled to the president's residence, Aras an Uachtarain, where President Michael D Higgins gave him the seals of office to officially confirm his appointment.

Former Taoiseach Kenny nominated Varadkar to succeed him at the start of today's Dail proceedings, saying that he would carry out the role with integrity and skill.

"As the country's youngest holder of this office, he speaks for a new generation of Irish women and Irish men," he said.

"He (Varadkar) represents a modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland and speaks for them like no other, an Ireland in which each person can fulfil their potential and live their dreams," Kenny said.

After winning the party leadership earlier this month, Varadkar had said, "If my election shows anything it's that prejudice has no hold in this Republic."

"When my father travelled 5,000 miles to build a new home in Ireland, I doubt he ever dreamed his son would grow up to be its leader," he had said.

The Dublin-born son of Mumbai-born Ashok Varadkar and Irish mother Miriam, served as Ireland's welfare minister and had emerged as the most popular choice since he announced his candidacy after Kenny stepped down as prime minister earlier this year.

Varadkar qualified as a doctor from the prestigious Trinity College, Dublin, and was first elected as a councillor at the age of 24 and took a seat in the Dail in 2007.

He went up against housing minister Coveney in the leadership race, who bagged two-thirds of the party membership votes but lost out to the more popular candidate in the end.

Varadkar came out as a gay man in 2015, when Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote.

In a coming-out speech he gave in a radio interview, he had said, "It's not something that defines me. 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 doesn't define me, it is part of my character I suppose."

His family originates from Varad in Maharashta's Sindhudurg district, and Leo Varadkar kept his Indian connect alive, completing an internship at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

His partner, Matthew Barrett, is also a doctor.

"Matt is just a very special person. Someone who is unconditionally on my side, which is always great. He is the kind of person who has made me a better person," Varadkar recently said.

The popular minister has campaigned for same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws.

He worked as a general practitioner (GP) before winning a seat in Parliament and has rapidly risen through the party ranks, holding several ministerial portfolios including minister for social protection and minister for transport, tourism and sports.

Fine Gael is Ireland's centre-right political party, seen as taking liberal positions on several social and economic issues.</s>So yesterday we said goodbye to Enda Kenny after a long anticipated wait. Today marks a historic day for Ireland when we welcome our new Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.

Leo is a modest man and steers clear of the media so we don't know much about him. He keeps things on the down low, but here's the most important facts about our new Taoiseach.

Leo was born and reared in Dublin, but has strong links with rural Ireland through his family.

He grew up in West Dublin in the 80's and he hasn't strayed far, he now lives in Carpenterstown.

His whole family are medical professionals

He is a medical doctor and GP by profession and a graduate of Trinity College.

His mother is a nurse from Waterford and his father is a doctor from India. He has two sisters; one of them is a nurse and the other a neurologist.

They do look pretty alike. What a brainy family though, eh?

Leo is making history today; He's going to be the youngest ever Taoiseach

He started early in politics, being elected to council at the young age of 20.

He has always said that he entered politics for the right reasons, because he wanted to make a change.

"I was always the kind of person who would try to solve problems and be the person who'd act."

He is interested in sport, mainly rugby and Gaelic football. He is a bit of a fitness fanatic...one of those who takes part in marathons and triathlons.

He was an avid supporter of the Yes campaign for the Irish marriage referendum

Leo is 38 years old, but he celebrated his 36th birthday in a very special way. In support of the marriage referendum, Leo decided to come out on national radio, in an interview with Miriam O'Callahan on RTÃ Radio 1.

"I'm a very private person and I still am. I keep my private life to myself and that's going to continue.

"I always think that friends and family are off-bounds. I went into politics, they didn't.

"But, I am a gay man - it's not a secret - but not something that everyone would necessarily know, but it isn't something I've spoken publicly about before."

His announcement was warmly welcomed by many, with fellow politicians, family, friends, LGBT activists and basically everyone screaming his praise.

His sister wrote an emotional article for the Irish Independent after he came out.

Sonia Varadkar said: "I was really proud of what he had done and happy for him.

"All of us in the family just want him to be happy and look forward to the day he has someone special in his life, someone he can bring to family dinners and someone we can tease him about."

You can read the full article here.

She must be delighted with him now, he's been with Matt Barrett for almost two years now. Matt is a doctor as well, and he's not too hard on the eyes!

No, is the blunt answer to that question. However, he did DJ for a night on RTÃ Radio 1 once. Still quite impressive!

He's a big music fan, with a keen interest in jazz. But look out for Leo in his wellies and sunnies at Electric Picnic, he attends the festival every year too.

He must be a bit of craic so!

The final most important point to make about Leo Varadkar...</s>Leo Varadkar has signed his warrant of office and assumed the role of Taoiseach.

The 38-year-old Fine Gael leader was nominated for the role by his predecessor Enda Kenny and following a Dáil vote, he travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin where his appointment was confirmed by President Michael D Higgins.

He will now return to Leinster House where he will finalise the appointment of his Cabinet before returning to the Áras where his ministers will receive their seals of office before a first Cabinet meeting.

Mr Kenny said Mr Varadkar (38) represented a “modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland’’ and spoke for it like no other. He is the youngest person to hold the office since the foundation of the State.

“It is an Ireland where each person can fulfil their potential and live their dreams,’’ he said.

Mr Kenny said having worked closely with Mr Varadkar throughout his political career, he was confident he would bring energy, integrity and skill to the role of Taoiseach.

He said from his deep involvement with the young Fine Gael movement as a young student to his election to Fingal County Council in 2004, and to his election to the House in 2007, he had demonstrated the drive and commitment required to succeed in politics.

Seconding the nomination, Dublin Rathdown TD Josepha Madigan said the office had been occupied by many great men and now it was passing from one to another.

“Leo Varadkar is of his time,’’ she added. “He is a leader for the Ireland of today, open, decent compassionate.’’

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said even Mr Varadkar’s most ardent supporters had to strain themselves to claim he had more than a modest policy record as a minister.

“They ultimately had to resort to claiming for him policies which had clearly been initiated by others,’’ he added. “In fact, there was almost something indecent about the attempt to snatch credit from James Reilly for the few bright spots in his time as minister for health.’’

Mr Martin said it was certainly true Mr Varadkar’s views would be significantly more right-wing on most economic topics than the centre-ground consensus.

“In last year’s negotiations, his approach was very distinct from that of his colleagues,’’ Mr Martin added.

Mr Martin also said it was “a very special day” for Mr Varadkar.

“In becoming Taoiseach he has both fulfilled his clearest ambition and secured the most important role in our parliamentary democracy. His family and loved ones have every right to be immensely proud of him and his achievement.”

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams challenged Mr Varadkar to adopt the approach of former Fianna Fáil taoiseach Albert Reynolds and to “do the right thing” on the North. Mr Adams also said he feared “Mr Varadkar will drag this Government to the right”.

He criticised his tenure as minister for health and noted his recent campaign against social welfare fraud.

However, he said: “I think he is a decent man. I wish him well.”

Mr Adams provoked sustained laughter when he said: “I do not know him well though he and I once attended the same pilates class...We couldn’t get the former taoiseach to stretch as far as that.”

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said it was a very proud day for Mr Varadkar personally, his partner Matthew, parents and all friends and family.

“For a gay man, for the son of a migrant, to be elected Taoiseach of this country is an important step,’’ he added.

But the House should not see Wednesday’s events as the end of the story.

Labour, he said, would continue to oppose Mr Varadkar’s Government, adding the programme for government and the confidence and supply agreement underpinning it were deeply flawed documents.

“At a high level, they retain a wrong and short-sighted commitment to spending one-third of all available funding on tax cuts at a time when our public services badly need investment,’’ he added.

Members of Mr Varadkar’s family including his parents Miriam and Ashok Varadkar, his sister Sophia and his mother’s sister Cora sat in the distinguished visitors’ gallery during the two-hour debate on his nomination. Mr Varadkar’s adviser Brian Murphy also sat in the gallery.

All members of the Cabinet were in the chamber with the exception of Minister for Children Katherine Zappone.

Discussions were continuing late last night on a possible reorganisation of some departments as Mr Varadkar and his aides sought to prepare for a ministerial reshuffle, which is not expected to feature widespread personnel changes.

After six years as taoiseach, Enda Kenny yesterday chaired his final Cabinet meeting, at which a decision was taken to reopen Stepaside Garda station in Shane Ross’s constituency and to appoint Attorney General Máire Whelan to the Court of Appeal.
Leo Varadkar becomes the first gay Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland.