Leo isn’t worth all of this celebration

How we Irish love to slap ourselves on the back! The election of Leo Varadkar has spurred a round of vigorous national backslapping because he’s half-Indian and gay, and it therefore shows what an astonishingly tolerant and forward-looking nation we are. It’s all so shallow and silly. Are we really saying other countries would never elect such a man?

Also, surely what matters most about a political leader is what he stands for? On this, Varadkar is decidedly vague.

He has drifted to the top without trace. He achieved nothing as health minister and nothing as social protection minister. His critics say he’s a Thatcherite but that’s based on little or nothing. I think Fine Gael has just elected a blank slate with an exceptional talent for public relations.

Andrew Keegan, Galway.