Ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern has joked that Leo Varadkar should immediately head to India on a trade mission if he wins the Fine Gael leadership contest.

Mr Ahern, who held the office of Taoiseach from 1997 until 2008, made the comment as he addressed a conference of former world leaders in Dublin yesterday.

Among the guests were a number of Indian policy experts with whom Mr Ahern discussed the prospect of Mr Varadkar's election. The Social Protection Minister's father is a doctor who is originally from Mumbai, while his mother is a nurse from Waterford.

"I found it quite interesting that our Indian colleagues were able to tell me so much about the likely favourite [to be Taoiseach]. He is already a big favourite in India," Mr Ahern said.

Read More

"When I was told that his community in India was one of the small communities, I said 'that's interesting'. But then I found that community has 140 million people."

And he joked: "Maybe the first thing we should do is send him on a trade mission to India. We have good contacts here that will help us."

Already Mr Varadkar's expected election is making global headlines.

Read More

The Dublin TD has previously spoken about his background, saying: "I'm not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician, or a gay politician for that matter. It's just part of who I am, it doesn't define me, it is part of my character I suppose."

Fine Gael parliamentary party endorsements for leader

The Fine Gael parliamentary party makes up 65pc of the total electorate.

That makes each of the 73 members' votes worth 0.9pc of the total ballot.

Of the remaining electorate, 230 party councillors account for 10pc, while the remaining 25pc is rank and file members.

Leo Varadkar Simon Coveney Total: 45 Total: 19 Ministers: 17 Ministers: 5 TDs: 16 TDs: 5 Senators: 11 Senators: 8 MEPs: 1 MEPs: 1 Richard Bruton -Minister Simon Harris - Minister Frances Fitzgerald - Minister Damien English - Minister Michael Ring - Minister Dara Murphy - Minister Eoghan Murphy - Minister David Stanton - Minister Sean Kyne - Minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy - Minister Joe McHugh - Minister Kate O'Connell - TD Helen McEntee - Minister Maria Bailey - TD Charlie Flanagan - Minister Sean Barrett TD Paul Kehoe -Minister Hildegard Naughton - TD Patrick O'Donovan - Minister Peter Fitzpatrick - TD Regina Doherty - Minister Tim Lombard - Senator Mary Mitchell O'Connor - Minister Jerry Buttimer - Senator Paschal Donohoe - Minister Paudie Coffey - Senator Heather Humphreys - Minister James Reilly - Senator Pat Breen - Minister Colm Burke - Senator Catherine Byrne - Minister John O'Mahony - Senator Andrew Doyle - Minister Paul Coghlan - Senator John Paul Phelan - TD Gabrielle McFadden - Senator Noel Rock - TD Deirdre Clune - MEP Tony McLoughlin - TD Alan Farrell - TD Michael D'Arcy - TD Tom Neville - TD Josepha Madigan - TD Pat Deering - TD Jim Daly - TD Brendan Griffin - TD Ciaran Cannon - TD Colm Brophy - TD Peter Burke - TD Fergus O'Dowd - TD John Deasy - TD Joe Carey - TD Neale Richmond - Senator Catherine Noone - Senator Paddy Burke - Senator Martin Conway - Senator Michelle Mulherin - Senator Maura Hopkins - Senator Ray Butler - Senator Frank Feighan - Senator Maria Byrne - Senator Joe O'Reilly - Senator Kieran O'Donnell - Senator Brian Hayes - MEP

Undeclared Enda Kenny - Outgoing Party Leader * Martin Heydon - Party Chairman * Michael Noonan - Minister Michael Creed - Minister Bernard Durkan - TD Sean Kelly - MEP Mairead McGuinness MEP

* Outgoing leader Enda Kenny and party chairman Martin Heydon will not make an endorsement

'Each week on the Floating Voter, INM's political team discuss the main issues affecting Irish politics, bursting the bubble that surrounds Leinster House.' Subscribe and listen to the Floating Voter podcast on iTunes or SoundCloud.

Irish Independent