Leo Varadkar

Irish politician of Indian extraction who has served as Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Minister for Defence and Leader of Fine Gael since June 2017. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) since 2007, currently for the Dublin West constituency. He previously served as Minister for Social Protection from 2016 to 2017, Minister for Health from 2014 to 2016 and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport from 2011 to 2014.

He was 38 years old on his election as Taoiseach, becoming the youngest person to hold the office. During the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum, he became the first openly gay Irish government minister. He is Ireland's first and the world's fourth openly gay head of government in modern times (following Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Elio Di Rupo, and Xavier Bettel).

Varadkar studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. He spent several years as a non-consultant hospital doctor before qualifying as a general practitioner in 2010. In 2004, he was co-opted onto Fingal County Council and served as deputy mayor, before his election to Dáil Éireann in 2007.

Varadkar is the third child and only son of Ashok and Miriam (née Howell) Varadkar. His father was born in Mumbai, India, and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s, to work as a doctor. His mother, born in Dungarvan, County Waterford, met her future husband while working as a nurse.

His partner, Matthew Barrett, is a doctor at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.