A baptism of fire for cautious Leo

IT IS fashionable these days to analyse a leader’s first 100 days in office but, if Leo Varadkar’s first 100 hours are an indication of the future, he faces a torrid time.

His debut speech was big on imagery but short on detail, and his Cabinet reshuffle was timid and uninspired, lacking the courage and imagination we expected of him. Mary Mitchell O’Connor may have been upset at her demotion but that is no reason to conjure up another super junior ministry that requires a new law if she is to keep her salary. That Varadkar did not simply dismiss her suggests a lack of ruthlessness and he may regret showing such weakness so early in his new role.

Not long after being made Taoiseach, he took to Copper Face Jacks. If we can be so churlish, there are very few of the people Leo loves most – those who get up early in the morning – who can afford to head off to a nightclub on a Wednesday night.

Now, Enda Kenny has left him a gift of the Máire Whelan controversy. Fianna Fáil says the appointment of the former attorney general smacks of stroke politics. No one ever has been appointed to the Court of Appeal without being a trial judge first.

While that simply is a break with precedent, there is no excusing the fact that Ms Whelan was present at the Cabinet meeting that endorsed her. The optics are poor. By giving Ms Whelan his support, the Taoiseach has made Mr Kenny’s issue his own. But the truth is every effort will be made in the coming days to kick this controversy to touch.

There is no appetite in Leinster House for an election. But it will be clear to Mr Varadkar that, as Gary Murphy points out in the column opposite, his honeymoon began and ended in Copper Face Jacks.