Leo Varadkar: Former Prime Minister of Ireland on Power and Letting Go

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before becoming Ireland’s youngest Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar was a Dublin GP with bold ambitions and a belief that politics could be a kind of medicine for society.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the former Prime Minister to explore his extraordinary rise from a mixed-heritage childhood in 1980s Ireland, to leading his country through Brexit battles, historic referendums and the turbulence of the pandemic. They discuss the unlikely path that took him from medical practice to the world stage, the emotional costs of leadership, and why he chose to step away at just 45 years old.

Frank, reflective and often surprising, this is a conversation about resilience, identity, and what it really means to hold power in a changing Ireland

Find out more about Leo Varadkar’s memoir Speaking My Mind here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you done any job since I was away?
0:02.0	It's been 10 years, people change.
0:04.0	We're gonna steal a painting from the biggest gallery in Spain. You've only been out two minutes. If your daughter rocks up, what you're gonna offer? Half a dozen eggs are the chance to be set for life? But first we have to gather the team. Starring Seran Jones. That mouth got you in trouble before, has it? Yeah, it's yours. And Jodie Whitaker. We come up with a plan and we execute it.
0:23.0	Some friendships are criminal. got you in trouble before us. Yeah. Jules. And Jodie Wittaker. We come up with a plan and we execute it.
0:23.0	Some friendships are criminal.
0:25.0	New drama, frauds.
0:26.5	Start Sunday the 5th of October on ITV1 and ITVX.
0:30.1	And with that makes, there's always more of those.
0:32.7	So live a life of hands.
0:34.3	Live a life of...
0:35.2	I got tickets on pre-sale.
0:36.9	And... We're in the trackside lounge. And points on. Adjustable desks for the new office. And even getting rewarded on... Lamb sheesh. And... A pickle. And having a minute to you. Cannonball! Because with Amex, with rewards for life and business, there's always something more. Preferred reward, gold credit card, representative 86.8% variable, annual fee applies after the first year,
0:57.8	subject to status, 18 plus T's and C's apply.
1:02.4	This is a global player original podcast.
1:21.0	Hello and welcome to full disclosure, a podcast project designed entirely to let me spend more time with interesting people than I would ever get on the radio.
1:24.0	And, well, today's guest certainly fits into that category.
1:26.1	Leo Varadka, welcome.
1:27.2	Thank you.
1:30.5	Doctor, politician, youngest ever, T-shock in Ireland,
1:38.4	and now memoirist. Yes, writer, yeah. Writer, to add to the list. It's weird for British journalists.
1:43.4	I don't know how you find it talking to us, because we don't have the depth of knowledge of Irish politics that perhaps we should have.
1:46.3	And yet we always found ourselves casting our eyes across the sea at moments of crisis.
	...

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