Leo Varadkar tells Late Late Show: 'I nearly chickened out of resigning'

Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar told Patrick Kielty on tonight's Late Late Show his experience led him to believe there should be a term limit on the office. Picture: X/@RTELateLateShow

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he "nearly chickened out" the night before his shock resignation.

He said that the idea of a term limit for Ireland’s leader might not be “such a bad idea”.

Comparing the limits set on heads of state such as the US president, Mr Varadkar noted that as Taoiseach he was “always on” and lacked the time to do all the things he wished.

Speaking to Patrick Kielty on RTÉ’s Late Late Show, Mr Varadkar said that the job “does take over everything” and involves working “most evenings, most weekends”. 

“In America, for the top job, president, governor, it’s an eight-year time limit.

"Maybe that’s not such a bad idea," he said.

Mr Varadkar said the decision had been made because his party Fine Gael would have a “better chance” to make the gains needed in the coming election under a new leader.

He said the prime minister of another country had told him “there’s really only three ways you cease to be prime minister of your country — you either die, or lose or resign, and if you’re not going to die or lose, resign is the only option”.

“I always wanted to make sure it was my decision and on my terms,” he said, adding that reaching the conclusion that he was no longer the best person for the job had been “hard”.

“Part of leadership is knowing when’s the right time to go. There are plenty of people who stay on for one season too many,” he said.

Asked had he been afraid “to face the music” in terms of Fine Gael’s relatively low standing in the polls ahead of a coming election, Mr Varadkar said there was “a grain of truth” to the question.

“We got about 21% in the last election, we will need to do better next time. Did I believe that I was the right person to get us to whatever the magic number is? I didn’t,” he said.