The former Fine Gael leader said the time has come for him to ‘explore new options and opportunities’.

Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar has paid tribute to the incoming Minister for Finance, his constituency colleague Jack Chambers

The former taoiseach suggested Labour would be ‘more even-handed’ on Northern Ireland.

The former taoiseach also said financial planning needs to start for a united Ireland

Leo Varadkar's decision to resign came as a huge shock to the country in March as he outlined both personal and professional reasons for the decision

The former taoiseach said he made the decision in the days before he surprised many with his resignation

Leo Varadkar formally resigned as Taoiseach on Monday

The outgoing Taoiseach thanked the party faithful for their support during his 13 years in government.

A number of other senior party colleagues have ruled themselves out of the running to replace Leo Varadkar.

The Tánaiste said Michelle O’Neill’s comments ‘left a lot of be desired’

The opposition parties have been pushing for a general election to be called after Leo Varadkar’s resignation.

In an emotional address outside Government Buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar announced he would step down as Taoiseach when a successor is confirmed.

The Minister for Enterprise said he had his chance to run for the leadership in 2017.

‘We don’t need a new Fine Gael taoiseach. We need a new government,’ Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said.

It brings many questions around the next leader of the country, what it means for the Coalition, and whether it will bring about the next general election

Here, we look at the figures who have a chance at taking over from Mr Varadkar

Mr Varadkar said Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys is now carrying out a review of the carer's support grant.

The Taoiseach has said it will be "challenging" for Fine Gael to keep its European seats in June's elections

The videocall was supposed to have been with African diplomats, but turned out to be prank by two Russian comedians

The Taoiseach admitted ‘it can be hard’ to get his message across to the public

Media Minister Catherine Martin will face questions from the Oireachtas media committee today

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will also attend the gathering over the weekend

Dublin City Council has been asked to remove threatening graffiti targeting the Taoiseach immediately

Leo Varadkar said he did not think it would be good for the country if he was seen to be giving in to extremists

Leo Varadkar said Israel is quickly losing support and sympathy around the world over the conflict in Gaza

It follows a report from Bloomberg that Minister Paschal Donohoe was in the early stages of exploring a bid for the job

Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen said he had summoned the Irish ambassador in Tel Aviv ‘for a reprimand’.

Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune has announced she won't contest the next European election

The Taoiseach said he also has ‘enormous fears’ that the violence in the Middle East could escalate and widen

Mr Varadkar said the tax relief that could see landlords saving 600 euro in the first year, rising to 1,000 euro, was to stop them leaving the market