Leo Varadkar has doubled down on his recent comments about rural Ireland being subsidised by the ‘bill-paying’ urban dwellers.
The former Taoiseach received backlash over his remarks, which he has stated that he did not want to cause division with.
Last week, Varadkar said: ‘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”.
‘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.’
His claim was labelled ‘shameful’ by Galway West candidate Noel Thomas, while he also came under fire on social media.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Thomas 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.’
Thomas went on to claim that Varadkar was ‘trying to push the agenda to get all rural dwellers into the towns and villages and cities’.
On Tuesday, Varadkar was asked by the Irish Independent if he stood by the comments while at an event organised by the Institute of European and International Affairs.
Varadkar replied by claiming that he had simply been stating a fact.
He told the paper: ‘There’s no real question, in Ireland, like most countries, it is the urban economy that generates most of the tax.
‘Ireland imports 80% of our food.’
However, he insisted that his remarks were not intended to cause offence and he believes that Irish residents need to ‘pull together’ as a country.
