Leo Varadkar: ‘Prejudice has no hold in this Republic’

“Prejudice has no hold in this Republic”, Fine Gael’s new leader Leo Varadkar has said after sweeping to an historic election victory.

The new Fine Gael leader — the son of an Indian immigrant — is set to become Ireland’s first openly gay Taoiseach despite failing to win the majority of grassroots members, a situation which risks undermining his new leadership.

After a 16-day campaign during which Mr Varadkar was always the front-runner, the Dublin West TD won an overall 60%-40% victory over leadership rival Simon Coveney.