Leo Varadkar

Leo Eric Varadkar (born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach, Minister for Defence and Leader of Fine Gael since June 2017. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency since 2007. 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 was born in Dublin and 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.