Mayo TD calls for an apology from former Taoiseach for comments on rural Ireland

Deputy Paul Lawless has called on former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to apologise following comments he made in recent days.

The comments were made on a recent episode of Matt Cooper's podcast, where the former Taoiseach suggested that urban populations are “the ones paying all the bills,” while rural communities are “in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get.”

Speaking today, the Aontú TD said:

“What Leo Varadkar said on the Matt Cooper podcast this weekend wasn't a slip of the tongue. It was an admission. 

“His comments that urban Ireland pays the bills while rural Ireland lives off subsidies are a window into the thinking that drove his entire period in government. What happened to rural Ireland under his leadership now makes sense.”

READ MORE: 'Mayo treated has been treated as an afterthought' – TD calls for major infrastructure investment

Deputy Lawless pointed in particular to Varadkar’s tenure as Minister for Transport, stating that decisions taken at that time had lasting consequences for regional development.

“He personally removed the West and Northwest from the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), a decision that removed our region from accessing funding.

“The Western Rail Corridor, the Galway ring road, and numerous other projects in the west were shelved. Garda stations across rural Ireland were closed. Post offices were shut.

“This was not accidental neglect - this was policy, driven from the top, by the same man who now goes on podcasts to explain that rural Ireland is a financial burden on the rest of the country.”

Turning to the issue of agriculture, Deputy Lawless rejected the former Taoiseach's criticism of farm supports.

“Over decades, Brussels created a food production model in which the price of produce leaving the farm gate has been driven down to the point where farming in Europe is simply not viable without subsidy.

“The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is not some generous gift to farmers. It is what makes food production in Europe possible at all. And now Leo Varadkar, who spent years in government supporting that very model, has the audacity to stand up and complain about the subsidies that same model made inevitable. It is breathtaking.”

Furthermore, he stated that:

“Ireland is among the highest net contributors per capita to the European Union, and approximately 75% of what we receive in return comes through CAP payments. Without the farming sector, that funding would remain in Brussels.

READ MORE: Mayo to benefit from new apprenticeship programme

“The farming sector is the single biggest vehicle through which Irish taxpayers recover what they put into Europe. To describe that as a burden is not just wrong - it is breathtaking.”

Deputy Lawless concluded by calling for an apology:

“His comments this weekend are not a surprise. They are a summary. A summary of a decade of neglect, of a Dublin-centric agenda pursued at the expense of rural communities, and of a fundamental contempt for the people who produce our food, maintain our countryside, and hold our rural towns together.

“Leo Varadkar should apologise - not just for this weekend, but for the record his own words have now explained,” he concluded.