Former Irish prime minister to speak at Notre Dame
Leo Varadkar, former prime minister of Ireland and current member of parliament in Dáil Eireann, will join the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a public discussion of Irish current affairs including public health initiatives, civic life and the political future of the island of Ireland.
“A Conversation with Deputy Leo Varadkar” will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 (Friday) in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium on the University of Notre Dame Campus. Colin Barr, professor of modern Irish history and director of the Clingen Family Center for Study of Modern Ireland, will moderate the discussion. The event is free and open to the public.
Varadkar’s visit is part of the Keough-Naughton Institute’s mission as a multidisciplinary and global research hub bringing Ireland to Notre Dame, Notre Dame to Ireland and Ireland to the world. The institute hosts programs and events that draw on public policy to enrich the community’s understanding of Ireland's peoples and cultures, and to highlight how Ireland’s uniqueness speaks to the universal human experience.
“The Keough-Naughton Institute is delighted to welcome Deputy Leo Varadkar to the University of Notre Dame and to the Keough School of Global Affairs,” said Patrick Griffin, the Thomas Moore and Judy Livingston Director of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. “Deputy Varadkar's visit reflects our commitment to supporting research and education related to Ireland and the Irish. Specifically, this visit will help bring to Notre Dame some of the insights and conversation generated by ARINS, our signature project in collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy that supports independent research on the island's constitutional, institutional and political future.”
Varadkar was Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland from 2017 to 2020, and again from 2022 to 2024. He served in the cabinet for 13 years at the Ministries of Transport; Tourism and Sport; Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Social Protection and Health. He is currently Teachta Dála for the Dublin West constituency of the Irish parliament and a member of Ireland's Council of State.
As prime minister, Varadkar helped guide the country through the COVID-19 pandemic with public health and economic responses that were internationally recognized for their efficacy. He led Ireland through Brexit, prevented a hard border from forming between Ireland and Northern Ireland, upheld the Good Friday Agreement and maintained Ireland's place at the heart of the European Union and its single market. A strong supporter of Irish unification, Varadkar allocated more than €1 billion to North-South projects under the Shared Island Fund and helped the power-sharing institutions of the Good Friday Agreement resume operations.
Although Varadkar has interacted before with Notre Dame faculty and students in Ireland and through a 2012 Notre Dame versus Navy football game played in Dublin, this is the first time he will be visiting the South Bend campus.
“I am looking forward to visiting the University of Notre Dame, an institution which is a bridge between Ireland and America,” Varadkar said. “I am particularly interested in the research the Keough-Naughton Institute is partnering on the future of the island, and I look forward to discussing that and how the relationship between Ireland and the United States can develop in a time of great change in our world.”
Originally published by irishstudies.nd.edu on Sept. 9.
atLatest ND News Wire
- ‘One must hold up the dignity of all human life’: Distinguished scholars discuss history, future of Israel and Palestine at Notre Dame Forum eventDistinguished scholars Hussein Ibish and David Myers joined the University of Notre Dame’s Maura Policelli on Sept. 25 at DeBartolo Hall for a discussion addressing the approaching first anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The event began the Israel-Palestine Series of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum on “What Do We Owe Each Other?”
- Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak at Notre Dame Forum eventCondoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Notre Dame alumna, will participate in a “fireside chat” with University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., at 4 p.m. Friday (Oct. 11) as part of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum. The conversation, titled “The Perils of U.S. Isolationism,” will take place in the Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and will also be livestreamed. The event is free, but ticketed, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning one hour beforehand.
- Alumni Association honors outstanding alumni during fall board of directors meetingThe University of Notre Dame Alumni…
- Six new faculty join psychology department to advance research on mental health, other disordersThe Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame has hired six new faculty members this year, a significant expansion of a field that is core to the University’s commitment to fighting the U.S. mental health crisis.
- Notre Dame receives significant gift from the Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin estateThe Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame is the beneficiary of a significant gift of paintings, sculptures, and decorative art objects from the estate of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin.
- Notre Dame juniors Faiza Filali, Angela Olvera named Obama-Chesky Voyager ScholarsUniversity of Notre Dame juniors Faiza Filali and Angela Olvera have been named to the third cohort of Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholars. They are Notre Dame’s second and third Voyager Scholars after senior Raleigh Kuipers, who recently returned from Latin America as a member of the second cohort.