{"id":412025,"date":"2026-04-22T16:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412025\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:33:07","slug":"varadkar-says-he-over-stated-comments-on-rural-ireland-and-issues-apology-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412025\/","title":{"rendered":"Varadkar says he \u2018over-stated\u2019 comments on rural Ireland and issues apology \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar<\/a> has said he went too far and \u201cover-stated\u201d his case in comments on rural Ireland which have caused a backlash, including from the party he used to lead. <\/p>\n

He on Wednesday said he did not \u201cset out to be divisive or offend anyone and [I] apologise for that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Path to Power podcast last week, the former Fine Gael<\/a> leader said: \u201cWhat\u2019s in the interest of farmers and the agriculture industry is by and large not in the interest of Ireland as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said people in rural Ireland<\/a> often suggested they were the \u201creal workers\u201d and \u201cpaying all the bills\u201d, but urban Ireland was in fact paying more while rural residents are \u201cin receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don\u2019t get\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I\u2019d like to see Leo milk 120 cows twice a day\u2019: Was Varadkar wrong about rural Ireland?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Varadkar told The Irish Times 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 in to the State.<\/p>\n

But he added: \u201c[I] went too far and over-stated my case on certain other points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varadkar had faced criticism, including from Fine Gael TDs representing largely rural constituencies. <\/p>\n

Tipperary South\u2019s Michael Murphy said he would raise the matter at the weekly meeting of the party\u2019s TDs and Senators. Murphy said he was \u201cvery angry\u201d and \u201cconcerned\u201d about the comments. <\/p>\n

The TD said in the wake of fuel protests<\/a> Varadkar\u2019s \u201ctiming couldn\u2019t have been worse\u201d. He said Varadkar\u2019s words suggested \u201can out-of-touch mentality\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply angered by the comments, I have to be very honest,\u201d Murphy said, saying there was a lot of anger within the Fine Gael parliamentary party.<\/p>\n

Cavan-Monaghan TD David Maxwell earlier this week said the comments were \u201cill-judged\u201d and \u201cill-timed\u201d, arguing rural Ireland was a \u201cvery important part of the Irish economy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wicklow-Wexford TD Brian Brennan said the comments were \u201cway out of order\u201d, while Clare TD Joe Cooney said Varadkar\u2019s was an \u201cawful statement\u201d and one \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be supporting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA statement like that I don\u2019t think is supporting rural Ireland and I\u2019m very disappointed with it,\u201d he said, adding that he felt it was \u201cputting urban ahead of rural\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he went too far and \u201cover-stated\u201d his case in comments on rural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3775,171749,61,60,3581,43,21674],"class_list":{"0":"post-412025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-fine-gael","9":"tag-fuel-protests","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-leo-varadkar","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-rural-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}