Why Leo Varadkar is the new Bertie

LIKE it or not, Bertie’s back. The former Taoiseach has been a guest on almost every TV station in Ireland and the UK over recent days as he recalled the skilful negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement.

He has floated the idea of running for President, and effectively trolled Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin by remarking on his poor poll ratings.

At a glance, it would be fair to assume that Mr Ahern’s re-emergence onto the political scene is merely a result of the agreement’s anniversary.

But he is the “most cunning of them all” and it’s far more likely that the choreographed rebirth is part of a strategy to steer his legacy away from the economic crash and Mahon Tribunal findings.

He wants people to forget the bad bits and remember the sports-mad Dubliner who dressed like a man of the people, except when in the company of world leaders.

Of course, politics has moved on and the modern set of TDs would never carry on like Bertie. Or would they? Step forward Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Shortly after Mr Varadkar became a TD in 2007, he went for the then-Taoiseach’s jugular – leading Mr Ahern to predict the young upstart would “get an early exit” from Leinster House.

But canary suits and colourful socks aside, the two northsiders have a lot more in common than either might like to admit.

Ever since the establishment of ‘new politics’, Sinn Féin has pushed the line that Fianna Fáil is trying to be both government and opposition.

In fact, there is plenty to suggest that Fine Gael is the one playing that game.

And Mr Varadkar’s ratings soar at a pace only outstripped by the numbers on the hospital trolleys and in homeless shelters.

The latest example is a report from a Fine Gael-backed think-tank which is strongly critical of the role of the Central Bank in protecting customers.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe launched the study yesterday even though its key finding is likely to be seized upon by the Opposition.

Before the Dáil broke for the Easter recess, Mr Varadkar described the fact 10,000 people are homeless in the State as “unbelievably frustrating”. He said the figures published by his own campaign manager-turned-Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy as “extremely disturbing”.

Speaking about the trolley crisis in January, he said the situation “is not defensible”.

“If this was simply a matter of political will and not finance, we would have resolved this a long time ago,” Mr Varadkar told the Dáil.

There were still 591 sick people on hospital trolleys yesterday.

He lost his Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald as a result of the ongoing Justice controversies before Christmas but everybody went on holidays and forgot the scandal.

And yesterday, Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness was singing the Taoiseach’s praises at the Disclosures Tribunal, saying he was “brave” to describe whistleblowers as “distinguished, not disgusting” in 2014.

All the while Micheál Martin is committed to keeping Mr Varadkar in power until at least 2019.

For a long time Mr Ahern tried to be the spokesperson for the man on the street, while also the ‘Teflon Taoiseach’ of the country.

Mr Varadkar also seems to want it both ways.