Politics

Mark Redmond: Varadkar never failed to show up when it came to winning investment for Ireland

Leo Varadkar’s tenure as taoiseach coincided with remarkable levels of foreign investment even in the face of a series of daunting challenges

Martin Shanahan, chief executive, IDA; Fionnuala Meehan, vice-president and head of Google in Dublin; An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD and Gareth Morgan, vice-president of GoogleCloud Sales (right), at the official opening of Google’s offices in the Velasco Building in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin in 2018. Picture: Robbie Reynolds

When elected by Dáil Éireann as Taoiseach on June 14, 2017, Leo Varadkar evoked JFK’s Inaugural Address by saying:

“Ceann Comhairle, I have been elected to lead. But I promise to serve”.

Seven years on, as he prepares to hand over the reins of power, it’s worth asking what impact Varadkar’s “service” has had on the state, particularly when it comes to Ireland’s standing with some of our most important investors: US multinationals.

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