Quotes from Leo Varadkar

I am not so naive to think that I can make every problem in the health service go away. No minister can. And never will be able to.

In a time of global uncertainty, rising terrorism, and enormous threats to peace, it's right that we as a country should now seek to extend our diplomatic footprint overseas.

Politicians should not get involved in the detail of clinical criteria and shouldn't be arguing with professors and consultants over whether there is one standard deviation or two standard deviations.

If Britain doesn't stay in the Single Market or Customs Union, we are very much in favor of a free trade agreement between the U.K. and Europe. We don't want Britain to be punished for its decision to leave, and it is not in our interests for Britain to be punished because we may be the ones who lose out as much if not more than them.

We should advocate that the North should stay in the customs union and the single market and that any customs checks should be in the ports and airports, not on land borders.

I hope the unionist parties, for example, who would be keen to protect and preserve the Union would see that it's much easier to do that if the U.K. stays within the Customs Union and the Single Market, because that would take away the need for any special arrangement, or bespoke solution, for Northern Ireland.

What I would rather see, what I think would be the best outcome, is a very close relationship between the United Kingdom and the E.U.

I miss being able to have a drink in my local pub, which I can't do anymore, or being able to go to the shops without every second person staring at me and looking at my basket to see what I'm buying.

It was easy for some to jump on the Brexit result and use it to make a land-grab for Northern Ireland, and it was counterproductive.

Economic gains on their own, without a vision for society to accompany them, will result in a squandered prosperity that will ultimately be unsustainable.

I pledge as Taoiseach to use my office, for as long as I hold it, to advance the cause of LGBT rights, to press for marriage equality across Ireland, to speak up for LGBT rights around the world where they are under attack, and to push for the implementation of the sexual health strategy here at home at a time when it is more important than ever.

I won't be allowing my own background or my own sexual orientation to dictate the decisions that I make.

What are these better deals the U.K. really wants from Europe and other countries? Some more clarity would be helpful.

I'd never be overly confident about anything.

People travel overseas to do things overseas that aren't legal in Ireland all the time. You know, are we going to stop people going to Las Vegas? Are we going to stop people going to Amsterdam? There are things that are illegal in Ireland, and we don't prevent people from travelling overseas to avail of them.

I have always stuck my neck out on policy issues.

An agreement is an agreement, and when you make it, you should stick to it.

What I am interested in are the philosophies of the future. That's what drives me.

It's up to American citizens to decide who they elect as president.

I'm not going to tell the American president how to run America, but I think it is important that when friends are speaking to each other that they are able to be very frank in the views that are exchanged, and I certainly will be doing that.

Often, the people who speak loudest about republican values are the least when it comes to honouring them.

I don't think you can make America great again by trying to go back to an old coal-based manufacturing economy that doesn't really exist anymore.