Part of my mission, if I have that opportunity as leader, is to take Sinn Fein on.
— Leo Varadkar
My opinion has always been that when it comes to deciding where specialist centres should be located, whether they are regional or national specialities, it should be done on clinical grounds.
What I am interested in are the philosophies of the future. That's what drives me.
It was easy for some to jump on the Brexit result and use it to make a land-grab for Northern Ireland, and it was counterproductive.
We should advocate that the North should stay in the customs union and the single market and that any customs checks should be in the ports and airports, not on land borders.
I see us very much at the heart of Europe. We are founding members of the single market; we are founding members of the euro.
Fine Gael needs to be Fine Gael and needs to stand its ground. It should not sacrifice its politics for position in government.
In any walk of life, it's very easy to judge people's actions in retrospect.
I have expressed a very strong view that no health minister on their own can turn the health service around.
I was appointed to Cabinet three times; on no occasion did I pitch for what position I wanted.
I don't know why, but I've had an interest and passion for politics.
In a time of global uncertainty, rising terrorism, and enormous threats to peace, it's right that we as a country should now seek to extend our diplomatic footprint overseas.
It's amazing that people were talking about me as a future leader back in 2011.
We have an educated and cynical electorate.
When a hospital is very crowded, there will be a real push to make sure people get their X-rays, get their tests and, you know, 'Let's get them out in four days'.
I am not so naive to think that I can make every problem in the health service go away. No minister can. And never will be able to.
I suppose I've always put the career, the job and politics, all of that first.
I think Sinn Fein remains the greatest threat to our democracy and our prosperity as a state.
Whatever happens with Brexit, what I am absolutely convinced will not happen is that free movement of individuals, free movement of people, will not change, North and South without passports.
What I see around the world are movements around people like Macron in France and Trudeau in Canada.
Economic gains on their own, without a vision for society to accompany them, will result in a squandered prosperity that will ultimately be unsustainable.
The Government needs to be honest and straight with people.
The idea that you could send agricultural products to Tokyo and Osaka and not pay tariffs, and you would have to pay tariffs sending them to Manchester, is quite hard to fathom in the modern world.
I have always stuck my neck out on policy issues.
I would love to believe that my political judgment is impeccable, but it's not.
I've never had a choice of which government department I would hold. I've always been assigned a department by the Taoiseach.
We really need to come behind and press for marriage equality in Northern Ireland.
I don't think my election as Taoiseach actually made history - it just reflected it, reflected the enormous changes that had already occurred in our country.
It's one of my government's ambitions to secure a seat for Ireland on the U.N. Security Council so that we can play an even greater role in international affairs and try to build what we all believe in, which is a world of laws.
I find it scary when people talk about me as a future leader. It's like putting a big target on your back.
Politicians should trust people with the truth. Very often, we don't do that.
When a hospital isn't under as much pressure, you start to see things slowing down, and it might take five, six, seven days to get the person discharged, and that's the length of stay, so it's all these different factors come into play all the time.
My job as Taoiseach, and the job of any government, of course, is to represent all people.
Mum is from West Waterford, Dungarvan. She's a farmer's daughter. She's a nurse. She left home very young - I think she was 18 - and went off to train as a nurse in England. My dad is from India, just south of Mumbai. He was one of the first in his family to go to college, and he went to England in the '70s; he emigrated there.
Politicians should not get involved in the detail of clinical criteria and shouldn't be arguing with professors and consultants over whether there is one standard deviation or two standard deviations.
I'd never be overly confident about anything.
Often, the people who speak loudest about republican values are the least when it comes to honouring them.
There should be no economic border at all between the North and South.
An agreement is an agreement, and when you make it, you should stick to it.
We need to stand over our policies when negotiating a programme for government.
My instinct is to say it as I see it, being a little bit edgy and showing leadership on policy issues.
There are a lot of people who want to retain the Eighth Amendment - I don't agree with that view myself - there are others who want to remove it, but when you ask them what that means, they aren't able to tell you.
People need to trust what gardai say on the stand, and I can understand that perhaps in a scenario whereby lots of things are happening quickly and people are caught up in the heat of the moment, they may have a recollection that isn't exactly as things happened.
I have a good social life.
I pledge as Taoiseach to use my office, for as long as I hold it, to advance the cause of LGBT rights, to press for marriage equality across Ireland, to speak up for LGBT rights around the world where they are under attack, and to push for the implementation of the sexual health strategy here at home at a time when it is more important than ever.
We always need to bear in mind that when it comes to blood transfusion, it's the person that's receiving the blood who takes the risk, not the person donating it.
I decided early on to be honest and trust people with the truth.
I don't see myself in politics at 51. I definitely want to do something else.
Obviously, nobody likes to read or hear about anyone having a bad experience in our hospitals.
I don't rule out raising some taxes into the future.
