The Fine Gael leader said recently: “People in rural Ireland are very quick to tell people in urban Ireland that ‘we are the real workers, we’re the ones paying the bills, we’re the ones feeding the country.’”
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. (Image: Collins)
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been blasted over comments he made about farmer subsidies.
The Fine Gael leader said recently: “People in rural Ireland are very quick to tell people in urban Ireland that ‘we are the real workers, we’re the ones paying the bills, we’re the ones feeding the country.’”
But he added: “I think we maybe need to be a little bit more blunt in urban Ireland and say, actually that is not the case.
“We’re the ones paying all the bills — you’re the ones in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get.”
The former Taoiseach made the comments while appearing on Matt Cooper’s Path to Power podcast
But Noel Thomas, who is running in the Galway West by-election, blasted the remarks and dubbed them “shameful”.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, the Ireland Independent candidate said: “As far as I am concerned, most people in rural Ireland work hard each day and contribute enormously to the tax take.
“And they get none of the services that the urban dwellers have like water mains, sewerage, paths, lighting and get a lot less playgrounds and other amenities.
“Rural dwellers do not begrudge the urban dwellers for having these extra services, as it’s obviously population driven. But it is shameful for Leo to be coming out with statements like this.”
He further went on to say that ex-Taoiseach was “trying to push the agenda to get all rural dwellers into the towns and villages and cities”.
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