Taoiseach must put country before party

THE good news continues to roll in for our newly minted Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. The latest survey for the ‘Sunday Independent’ shows his Fine Gael party still comfortably ahead of Fianna Fáil, along with a slew of other positive indicators. So, what is a new party leader to do? Cash those political credits before they expire in an ever-increasingly fickle political world? Or, play a longer political game, hoping international economic indicators will continue to hold up Irish prosperity, and that other domestic factors will continue to play in his party’s favour?

These are crucial decisions for a young leader who is just eight months in office.

He will not lack good counsel in lining up the future options – but in the lonely world of the national leader, the final decision will be his alone.

In Irish political history, Fine Gael has rarely got the better of its key rival in Fianna Fáil. Indeed, there are arguments that Fine Gael’s best ever election in February 2011 was in some part attributable to its rival’s implosion.

The opinion polls since last autumn suggest that there is a real opportunity now for Fine Gael to steal a big march here. This reality poses serious temptation for the Taoiseach.

But it is a temptation he must now resist. As Brexit negotiations gather pace, Ireland’s economic future is in peril. We need the strongest Government we can muster to face into this most vital crux.

Leo Varadkar must avoid the prospect of a general election during 2018 at all costs. He must, for all our sakes, simply put country before party. In the longer term, he can argue cogently that he did the right thing.