An emotional Varadkar cited “personal and political reasons” for his departure. Nobody knows what the personal reasons may entail, and in future Varadkar may well come to regret ringing that particular bell. But the political reasons undoubtedly stack up. ...

But if there is to be one major contributing factor to yesterday’s surprising self-defenestration, that undoubtedly came with the disastrous government referendums on both the definition of the family and role of domestic carers in the home.

Voters rejected the family referendum by 67 percent, while the care referendum was demolished by 74 percent — leading to the worst results in a constitutional referendum suffered by any government in the history of the state.