Quotes from Leo Varadkar

I find it scary when people talk about me as a future leader. It's like putting a big target on your back.

I don't rule out raising some taxes into the future.

The traditional divide between left and right, capital and labor, small state and big state, high taxes and low taxes doesn't define politics in the way it did in the past.

I keep my private life to myself, and that's going to continue.

We need to stand over our policies when negotiating a programme for government.

I have enormous respect for people who come from a strong family background in Fine Gael.

We will, of course, work with whoever Americans decide to elect as president.

What I would like to build is a new centre, a wider, broader centre, which would encompass a lot of different philosophies - you know, the philosophy that I'm putting forward that is a market liberal philosophy and a socially liberal philosophy but would have room in it for a broader church than that.

If I was to describe myself in terms of a political philosophy, I'd cast myself as a social and economic liberal, which is typically what people describe as being left-of-centre on social issues and right-of-centre on economic issues.

I just want people to know that whatever decisions are made on any issue, I'll make them according to what I believe is in the public interest and my own conscience.

I think there should be a law that would allow the Oireachtas to take pensions away from people. That would go for corrupt politicians; it would go for public servants who failed miserably or were incompetent.

I see us very much at the heart of Europe. We are founding members of the single market; we are founding members of the euro.

I always think that friends and family are off-bounds. I went into politics; they didn't.

When a hospital is very crowded, there will be a real push to make sure people get their X-rays, get their tests and, you know, 'Let's get them out in four days'.

I've realised that doctors can only help change a certain number of patients, but a Minister of Health can really change things.

The gutter is Bertie Ahern's natural habitat.

There are far too many people who get up early in the morning, and work hard, who cannot make ends meet.

I think Sinn Fein remains the greatest threat to our democracy and our prosperity as a state.

We always need to bear in mind that when it comes to blood transfusion, it's the person that's receiving the blood who takes the risk, not the person donating it.

People need to trust what gardai say on the stand, and I can understand that perhaps in a scenario whereby lots of things are happening quickly and people are caught up in the heat of the moment, they may have a recollection that isn't exactly as things happened.

I decided early on to be honest and trust people with the truth.

The Government needs to be honest and straight with people.

The idea that you could send agricultural products to Tokyo and Osaka and not pay tariffs, and you would have to pay tariffs sending them to Manchester, is quite hard to fathom in the modern world.

I don't think my election as Taoiseach actually made history - it just reflected it, reflected the enormous changes that had already occurred in our country.