War of words over wolves

There have been howls of protest over Varadkar wolves analogy.

 

By Anthony Neeson

A war-of-words has broken out between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the opposition parties, after he compared Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin to wolves.

The taoiseach made the comments at a Fine Gael dinner at the weekend.

“During the week, the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, announced his great plan on Twitter to repopulate rural Ireland with wolves,” Varadkar said.

“I would have thought the Greens’ experience of being in government with Fianna Fáil would have warned them off dangerous predators.

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“Decisions are made by those who turn up. Sinn Féin doesn’t – either to the House of Commons or Stormont.

“And, I’d sooner bring back the wolves than let Sinn Féin into government.”

Hitting back, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said instead of focusing on delivering for workers and families “he [the taoiseach] has chosen to attack Sinn Féin in the comments unworthy of the office of taoiseach.

“Joining the DUP leader Arlene Foster to comparing republicans and nationalists to animals is hardly a badge of honor. In the face of Brexit, gratuitous insults are no substitute for thoughtful leadership.

“The taoiseach should remember that it is the people who decided who will be in government, not Leo Varadkar.”

Fianna Fáil Brexit spokesperson, Lisa Chambers, said the comments showed a “breathtaking level of arrogance on the part of the taoiseach.”

“The country would be better served if he had delivered a speech in which he outlined how he was going to deal with the health and housing crises.”

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said: “The main thrust of Leo Varadkar’s speech was to frame the upcoming general election in terms of a battle between him and Micheál Martin to lead the next government. What he forgot to mention is that between them, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil got less than half of the total vote in the last general election.”

 

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