Leo Varadkar has returned to the office of Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) in keeping with the agreement underpinning coalition government.

The Fine Gael leader, who has been Tanaiste (deputy prime minister) for the last two years, has swapped roles with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

Mr Varadkar, 43, was nominated during a special sitting of the Irish Parliament before travelling to meet with the president.

He told the House the coalition had been born “in a spirit of togetherness” during the pandemic and said he intended for that to continue.

“Providing hope and housing, economic opportunity and a fair start for all,” would be his mission he added.

Leo Varadkar made history in 2017, becoming Ireland’s youngest prime minister and its first gay Taoiseach.

The son of an Indian doctor and an Irish nurse, he and Rishi Sunak share similar heritage and similar politics.

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Aoife Moore, political correspondent for the Sunday Times in Ireland, said: “Leo Varadkar is the first gay Taoiseach we’ve ever had and the first minority Taoiseach we’ve ever had, Rishi Sunak the first minority prime minister… so this is a fresh start.”

“Rishi Sunak has signalled already that he is keen to get a deal done on Brexit… and both men will go into this with that on their mind, that they want to get this sorted,” she added.

But sorting it won’t be easy when Unionists hold him personally responsible for the Brexit border in the Irish Sea.

During negotiations, Leo Varadkar warned the EU that a hard border between North and South could lead to IRA violence.

In loyalist areas, they have marked his return as Taoiseach by erecting posters threatening a resumption of loyalist violence instead.

Billy Hutchinson, a former loyalist prisoner and now leader of the small Progressive Unionist Party, said: “Whenever anybody has a dislike for anybody, anger comes first and that is what happened.

“You can have an argument with your neighbours but you have to resolve it.

“From that point of view, if he really wants the Republic of Ireland to work, then he needs to make sure that he has friendly neighbours,” he added.

Leo Varadkar has been embroiled in controversy and a police investigation over his leaking of a GP report and is not as popular in the polls as he was.

A video of him in a Dublin nightclub, posted online two weeks ago, prompted questions about privacy laws but also about his own judgment.

But he will be hoping he has at least two years to turn things around before the next general election.

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