Varadkar: Holohan apology 'is good enough for me'
Leo Varadkar has said that the apology of Sinn Féin councillor Paddy Holohan for comments made about the Taoiseach personally “is good enough for me”, but has said your background should “not matter in the kind of society that I believe in.
At a campaign stop in Longford town to give a boost to local councillor Micheal Carrigy’s bid for the Dáil, the Taoiseach said that “anyone in Ireland from a minority background, whether mixed race or gay or lesbian has experienced some form of racism or homophobia in their lives”.
“I’m fortunate that I haven’t received too much of it, I know it’s been a lot worse for a lot of other people.”
Mr Varadkar was responding after Mr Holohan, who is not a candidate for election, earlier
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Mr Holohan later released a statement apologising for his comments, saying that he had been “misrepresented”. Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said that she had accepted that apology.
The party had earlier stated that those comments do not represent its values.
Mr Varadkar said he hoped to run another cross government campaign against racism.
“We need to raise awareness of the issue and make sure that we have a properly united country, whether you’re a man or a woman, no matter what background you come from, whether you’re a member of the travelling community or not, or who you love,” he said.
None of those things should matter in the kind of society that I believe in.
“But I think that if somebody makes a remark that they regret, and they apologise for that, I think that should be accepted and in this case the apology has been made,” he added.
The Taoiseach was also pressed on his Government’s record on homelessness, responding that “everyone feels shame at the housing crisis”.
“I’ve often said that I believe homelessness is a stain on our society, it’s a reflection of one of the things that is going wrong in a country where most things are going right,” he said.
“It’s totally unacceptable, it brings shame on us all quite frankly,” he said, adding that he finds it “at least a little bit reassuring that there are fewer homeless families and fewer homeless children than there were this time last year”.
Mr Varadkar added that it would be possible to “continue to invest in homeless services over the next five (years) but only if we keep the economy strong, only if we mind the public finances and really we’re the only party that can do that”.
