A Fine Gael minister has endorsed a former Fianna Fáil senator in her bid for re-election.

Leo Varadkar says he is backing Averil Power, who is running on the Trinity panel for re-election to the Seanad.

The former Fianna Fáil member left the party after the marriage equality referendum.

However, Mr Varadkar says he has been a long-term admirer of Averil Power's work.

He said: "I'm supporting her for a couple of reasons, mainly because I know her for a long time, we were students in Trinity together a long time ago and she was a really excellent student union representative at the time."

"Since then, like Averil, I've continued to take an interest in Trinity and matters affecting Trinity, and Averil's always done that."