Varadkar says he ‘over-stated’ comments on rural Ireland and issues apology

Michael Bolton

Leo Varadkar has apologised for the comments he made on rural Ireland in a recent podcast, saying he went too far and “over-stated” his case.

On the Path to Power podcast last week, the former Fine Gael leader said “What’s in the interest of farmers and the agriculture industry is by and large not in the interest of Ireland as a nation”.

He said people in rural Ireland often suggested they were the “real workers” and “paying all the bills”, but in fact urban Ireland was paying more while rural residents are “in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get”.

The former Fine Gael leader had faced criticism, including from that party’s TDs – especially those representing largely rural constituencies.

Varadkar told The Irish Times that he stood over some of the points he made, arguing the vast majority of tax is paid in urban Ireland while 80 per cent of food is imported to Ireland.

But he added: “[I] went too far and over-stated my case on certain other points”.

Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly said: “It is with genuine surprise and deep concern that I listened to Leo Varadkar sneer at Irish farmers over the weekend.

“That kind of language betrays a complete failure to understand what Irish agriculture means - economically, socially and strategically.”