Chuckles rippled through the audience, though no one in the room was quite sure if Leo Varadkar was joking. The former taoiseach was the star speaker on the final day of the Centre for Justice and Law Reform’s summer school last Friday. The question he was asked was if it is embarrassing that Ireland depends on Britain to defend its territory. He answered, to paraphrase, that we need heightened security because we’re next door to Britain. “They should be paying us danger money,” he concluded.

No wonder London’s establishment never liked the man. “Why isn’t he called Murphy like the rest of them,” his counterpart, Boris Johnson, sneered. Unlike Johnson’s colourfully imaginative utterances, Varadkar’s were unvarnished, often blunt, sometimes politically toe-curdling. Listening to him plain-speak in the Law Society’s headquarters last week, the thought occurred that his departure from public life is a loss to Ireland. Many of us baulked at his prioritisation of “people who get up early” but at least we knew what he thought. In an age of craven world leaders too scared to tell the emperor in the Oval Office he has no clothes, guts are needed. Regardless of whether you love his world view or loathe it, Varadkar has guts to spare.

“Taoiseach sidesteps Varadkar criticism of US ambassador visit to McGregor pub – Tánaiste says decisions regarding actions of ambassador a matter for the US”. The headline in The Irish Times on Tuesday said it all. Neither Micheál Martin nor Simon Harris dared rebuke Uncle Sam. Their reticence will deepen the isolation felt by many sexual assault victims when Ed Walsh graced the pub owned by Conor McGregor, the professional fighter a High Court........

© The Irish Times