Who knows DW could even suppply all 3 main party leaders, if the brakes on a bus on Kildare st were to take out the incumbents.

2002 was FG’s ‘meltdown’ year, I think, and Dublin South West is quite different to Dublin West in its social profile – substantial middle-class vote, ‘new’ suburban areas and the like. Anyway, DW is going up from three to four seats in the next GE, so Leo looks to be sitting pretty. Even if he sat on his ass and didn’t do another stroke of work from now ’til polling day, it would take a complete national collapse of the FG vote to threaten his position, I reckon.

One other thing about this notion that has gotten about that some people felt George had to serve his time or wait his turn and that he was like a star athlete that the party was simply refusing to play. I’ve heard no one in FG suggest that he had to wait his turn, in fact it is the media that have come up with that notion, perhaps because it is so common in that field we couldn’t have Tubridy present the Late Late until Pat Kenny stepped down. In truth he was more like a star sprinter such as Dwain Chambers (not making any drug or scandal comparison here) who tried out for rugby league but ultimately wasn’t suitable. It was not about George being made to wait but George getting a chance to acclimate to the best way to be effective in the world of politics. Beating the analogy to death, I wouldn’t have taken Mike Frank Russell in his heyday, signed him for Crystal Palace on the Friday and thrown him into the team the following day. It is remarkable that George Lee is feted and rightly so for being a great communicator but he didn’t communicate a single idea to anyone either in FG or outside in his time in the Dáil. I think that says a lot about the Dáil, and the way we pay attention to politics.

Veronica, I think Leo Varadkar has been a stand-out of the 2007 Oireachtas intake and I would certainly rate him as a leadership contender whenever that contest might arise. Yet I also think that Leo is wary of the lessons from Brian Hayes’s arrival when he was on the front bench quickly, did well but lost his seat in 2002. I wouldn’t always agree with Leo but you can actually have a debate about ideas with him and feel that he is listening to what you’ve got to say even at worst it is only to hone his own argument more.

I hesitate to say this, because it’s entirely a matter for Fine Gael about which I know little and am not therefore qualified to comment, but I think FG could look to skip a generation when they next decide it’s time for a change of leadership or the current leader realises he has taken them as far as he personally can, whenever that may be.

Perhaps I’m partisan because Leo Varadkar is in my constituency. He’s an excellent local representative in my particular area, as is Brian Lenihan,and they both demonstrate a commitment to the best interests of their constituents and an understanding of local sentiment and concerns. Leo, like Brian Lenihan too, also has an impressive command of national issues.

While most of the time I probably wouldn’t agree with his ideological perspective, his work rate and output in his shadow portfolio are impressive. But that’s the thing about real leadership potential, isn’t it? You may profoundly disagree with the ideology, but the practical ideas and personal commitment might persuade you to say: “Why not? Let’s give it a shot!” Leo also seems capable of learning from his mistakes. So should a vacancy ever arise, maybe…

Take this being chairman of an economic policy committee, he as chair could decide when it would meet, what the agenda would be, who would be invited to speak, what shape its outcome might be, all sorts of ways to influence policy. Christ he could have written a set of policies and published them, look at what Leo Varadkar did on quangos after he was 6 months in the Dáil.

http://www.leovaradkar.ie/wp-content/docs/streamlining.pdf

Where are even the sketches of the policies that George wanted to have implemented?