TOO MUCH LIKE VARHARD WORK
‘Being the Taoiseach is like having four jobs...’ SEE PAGES 22&23
FORMER Taoiseach Leo Varadkar moaned that the job was taking up too much of his time.
Mr Varadkar, who resigned as Taoiseach last month days after enjoying an all expenses paid jaunt to the White House, said the role was like four jobs in one.
He said he was now happy to kick back, with plans to write a book, as he joked that “I would be so lucky” to land a gig as roadie for his favourite singer Kylie Minogue.
He said he “honestly didn’t know” if his arch rival in the
Dail, Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald would make a good Taoiseach.
Tough
Leo said that a lack of Government experience could make the first two years tough for Mary Lou, even though he said that didn’t hold Barack Obama and Tony Blair back.
Asked if he was comparing Mary Lou to them, he said: “I didn’t quite say that now, I’m just trying to be balanced.”
Speaking to Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty about the role of Taoiseach, Leo whinged: “It does take over everything.
“Certainly when you are Taoiseach, you are always Taoiseach and it is very long hours.
He complained: “It’s essentially three or four full-time jobs. You’re still a TD for your constituency, you are the leader of your party, you’re running the Government as Taoiseach and you’re also essentially representing the country abroad.”
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that a member of the public offered Leo a loan of a “comfortable property” and a car if he needed a “bolt-hole to drop out of sight” following his resignation.
A random sample of 50 emails from after his resignation, released to The Star under Freedom of Information (FOI), includes one from an Irish ex-pat.
The correspondent offered Mr Varadkar and his partner Dr Matt Barrett a place to stay if they wanted to get away from the spotlight.
“If things get too hectic for you there, we have a couple of comfortable properties here where we could host you and your partner with no questions asked if you ever need a bolt-hole to drop out of sight in for a few weeks or months as our guests,” they wrote.