‘They’re Loud And They’re Growing’


Leo Varadkar and Brian Dobson on last night’s Six One

Last night.

On RTÉ’s Six One.

Following his ‘Welfare Cheats Cheat Us All’ campaign…

Fine Gael TD and leadership contender Leo Varadkar spoke to Brian Dobson about people in Ireland who “want everything for free”.

From the interview…

Brian Dobson: “You said in your launch today, that Irish society cannot be split into, and I quote, one group of people who pay for everything, and another who want everything for free and think others should pay for it. Who are that latter group, who want everything for free?”

Leo Varadkar: “Well, I suppose, they’re people who do exist in Ireland, unfortunately, there is a degree of an entitlement culture. It mightn’t be many people but there are people who believe and, you know, they’re very often supporters of the far left, that believe that everything should be free. And that, you know, somehow, Apple or bondholders or somebody else should pay for it, or billionaires who don’t live in this country. And I don’t accept that culture.

“I think, I come from a very different political point of view. I think everyone who can should pay into the system and by paying into the system, we can all have a better society.”

Dobson: “So they’re people on the hard left? A pretty small group then? Would it be fair to say?”

Varadkar: “Yeah, they’re pretty small but they’re loud and they’re growing and the kind of politics they preach is the idea that we should have, you know, free education, free healthcare, free housing, free everything but you shouldn’t have to contribute to it at all. Somehow that, you know, billionaires living overseas or American corporations, that make their profits elsewhere, are going to pay for everything. I think that’s dishonest.”

“I’m bringing forward, to the table, honest, centrist politics which is that if you want to have a good society, if you want to have good public services, well then we all need to contribute to them, we all need to work hard if we can and pay into the system.”

Watch back in full here

Previously: Populist Chancer Cheats Us All

162 thoughts on “‘They’re Loud And They’re Growing’

  1. Optimus Grime

    So what you are saying Leo is that leftists cheats are cheating us with their cheating policies.

  2. newsjustin

    This is gonna be a bit like Margaret Thatcher for some people. Hoping for a woman PM and then she’s a Tory. And it’d be great to have a gay Taoiseach…..think of Gay Byrne’s face….but, oh no, he’s quite right wing.

    “Why do you toy with us, oh God we dont believe in!”

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      Wow, it’s like you actually have no idea what the people you hate are actually thinking.

        1. MoyestWithExcitement

          ‘Don’t like’ then, whatevever. Calm down. It was just a comment.

  3. MoyestWithExcitement


    That is an INCREDIBLE sentence. He makes up a complete lie, attributes it to the “Hard Left” boogeyman and then complains about dishonesty.


    So he’s admitting that he’s making up a narrative to emotionally manipulate people into feeling anger towards the “Hard Left” who are made up of ‘moochers’. Leo Varadkar is a legtimate threat to Ireland.

    1. Frilly Keane

      I think he’s poking at the hard left as Coppinger and the Shinner in his own back yard

      and couldn’t give an Ole about any of the others

      1. Daniel Sullivan

        Isn’t the wealth of people who live or make their money overseas the basis of the much touted wealth tax that would bring in 10 billion or so per year?

        “Introducing a wealth tax of 2% on assets (excluding the family home or family farm) over €1 million will be introduced. A national database on the distribution and ownership of financial and property assets will be created and maintained.” this would be on assets not present in Ireland and that those people could simply move out of the country and not pay.

        “PBP will demand Apple pay an estimated €8-17 billion in back taxes.” €8 to €17 billion eh. Despite most people reckoning that even if the case goes against Ireland, most of the money (could be 90%) will be actually claimable by the other EU countries the money was made from by selling products in them. We might get a one off 800 million but lose that and more as jobs head away.


        1. Mick Wall

          @Daniel What utter nonsense – first, regarding apple, the profits are booked to apple ireland, look at them like any exporting company in ireland, they sell overseas from ireland, the profits are booked here so should be taxed here. They are taxed here, due to a loophole happily put in place by previous irish governments at less than 1%, as close to zero as possible in fact. Also PBP are suggesting that the finding of the European commission should be implemented, nothing more, yep that’s 13billion in avoided tax thanks to the “double irish”, apple must be among those that Leo thinks want everything for nothing.

          As to taxes on wealth, where are these people going to move to? to countries with higher taxes on wealth than Ireland?

          It’s all very simple, we have a marginal tax rate of 52% because the wealthy, like our friends in apple manipulate, with the help of our government, the tax codes so that they pay relatively tiny amounts of tax, and the rest of us pick up the bill. This has resulted in a massive increase in poverty, including homelessness, services such as health cut to shreds and all the while the low paid, unemployed etc are demonised.

    2. GiggidyGoo

      If we thought Kenny was bad with his floundering and putting his three feet in it, we haven’t seen nothing yet. Somehow I doubt the planes, trains and automobiles will be full of returnees come next election, to add the rainbow vote to such a gobpoo.
      Sinn Fein, Mick Wallace, Clare Daly etc. will show Varadkar up regularly. His retorts will of course be little jokes, probable in a similar vein to KENNY’s “toddle along” or using Irish.
      I hope Leo’s stint in the gaelteacht has made him fluent. I doubt it. Let’s hear Gerry asking him something in Irish.
      Maybe Leo will inherit Kennys headphones.


    Watched that…whatever about the tired appeasement politics spiel, he did not have the presence of would be Taoiseach, then again neither did cowering kenny.

  5. Anomanomanom

    He’s very smart if nothing else, the people who think like him all vote. So he’s setting his camp up very smartly, attack an easy target.

    1. Frilly Keane

      he’s bin’ setting up that camp since he came out

      he’s done nathin’ else of substance in years

        1. Frilly Keane

          ah jaysus
          wouldn’t it be great if he actually lost

          that’d be some comeuppance

    2. MoyestWithExcitement

      Actually, yeah. He thinks he can get away with proposing a legal ban on Luas drivers striking because of the amount of people who raged at the drivers online. If you voice selfish views and attack other vulnerable people for selfish reasons, don’t be surprised if a politician comes along with some very worrying ideas. Leo Varadkar is a legitimate threat to Ireland.

  6. Brother Barnabas

    Wow!! Not surprised that this is what Leo believes but amazed he’d come out with it in public.

  7. Sheik Yahbouti

    “It mightn’t be many, but they exist………” Yes, Leo, I am more than prepared to believe that they exist. However, they are far outshone and outpaced by the much larger tranche of people ‘more to your liking’ who have milked the system for decades and feel the same sense of “entitlement”. This is to be your big crusade? Eff me pink and call me Rosie – I may have to review my attitude to Herr Flick. From an unassailable position, you have now made three big mistakes in only a couple of days, you benighted eejit. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

    1. Lord Snowflakee

      Citation needed as well Sheik, you’re just mouthing off as much as he is, and wasn’t that the point he was making?

      1. nellyb

        Citation is not needed. Sheikh is neither running for a political leadership, he is not even a politician (-or are you Sheikh?). Different standards of conduct apply. So, no touche here, only another mouthing off and not by Sheikh.

  8. Kolmo

    Nobody is saying this because nothing is free – Who is not paying for stuff? – Anybody who spends a cent in Ireland, on anything, pays some form of tax. Who the hell is he talking about? Even the slacker ‘welfare cheats’ live hand-to-mouth, they ain’t squirreling money off to gibraltar or Isle of man..the cans of Dutch Gold they presumably drink is 40% tax…

    1. Barry the Hatchet

      +1 The biggest myth going is that there are are a whole bunch of wasters on welfare who don’t pay any tax. Literally everyone pays some form of tax. And indirect taxes hit the poor the hardest.

      1. hans landa

        He is not talking about the small amount of VAT and duty on smokes and cans. The fact remains that there are many many moochers who are net takers from the exchequer. One in three income earners pay absolutely no tax whatsoever and the top 20% of earners pay c.80% of the entire tax take. Its about time someone came out and gave the hard left a good kick in the nuts

        1. MoyestWithExcitement

          Net takers? Like when Starbucks paid less than €4,000 in copro tax between between 2012 and 2015?

          1. mcsmelligott

            If corporate tax didn’t exist, I wonder would people focus on the jobs that the likes of Starbucks, Apple etc. create and think of their presence in Ireland as a positive, economically.
            In the absence of having any other real means of differentiating Ireland’s workforce, ideally the corporation tax system would milk these companies to just below the point where they say the UK, the Netherlands or any other country offers a better deal. Probably wouldn’t have that much long terms sustainability

          2. MoyestWithExcitement

            Good question. It requires more effort to answer properly that I’m prepared to give right now but I would say that I’m not sure if the economic benefit, macro/long term anyway, of call centre and coffee shop work is that significant. Maybe the existence of easy/safe jobs like that might put off people from trying to grow but then there are lots of people who will settle for A Job for whatever reason (lack of self confidence for instance) and those jobs need filling. Apple and Starbucks provide rent and food money for some of those guys but on a societal level, without the corporation tax, I don’t see any massive benefit from having them here. Sweden can produce quite a few world wide brands with 5 million people. We really should be looking at how to create conditions that help bring that kind of productivity here. MNCs can, will and have left to raise their profit margin.

          3. Hans Landa

            I’m not defending Starbucks or Apple or any other corporate. But they wouldn’t be net takers out of the economy in any event. There are many people in this country who have no incentive to contribute. I don’t fault them because it’s a failure of the system. The rules of the game need to change to substantially reward those who do pay more than their fair share. At the rates I quoted above, I personally don’t think that’s ‘fair’.

          4. MoyestWithExcitement

            I think if we need to plug a hole in our finances, we need to be looking at people using our resources to generate millions in profit instead of people who miss job interviews because they can’t afford bus fair. Those people actually exist.

        2. ahjayzis

          You cite social and economic and taxation problems as you see them.

          Your solution is to kick the hard left.

          But the right have been in power for 90 years without interruption.

          Your inability to formulate a clear thought gladdens me.

          1. Hans Landa

            Of course I cite social, economic and tax problems as I see them. Clearly that in and of itself is evidence of a clear thought. Not least since the argument is based on fact.

      2. Andy

        That’d be all that 0% VAT on staple foods, medical costs, kids clothing & shoes, books, transport etc….

        And not the 23% vat on booze and sweets & crisps and processed foods. Cause siting on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle gets in the way of cooking balanced meals from scratch for your army of truant children.

  9. Listrade

    That’s a bigger straw man than even Lord Summerisle managed.


  10. Liam

    He has bet his Tiara on his little cheaters cheat us all campaign and now wants to smear any opponents with the juvenile assertion, well you must be a cheater then if you disagree , truly pathetic arguement .He then goes on to side with the bond holders, billionaires and multinational corporations over the people of Ireland.
    Says it all really cant be any clearer than that anybody supporting him or selecting him as leader is not on the side of the people of Ireland!!

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      Tiara? He’s a legitimate threat to Ireland and a total See You Next Thursday anyway. Plenty of stuff to knock that lying authoritarian for without borderline homophobia.

      1. Liam

        What you talking about homphobia for! I happen to be gay myself so you got that one wrong matey!!

  11. Pablo Pistachio

    Let them eat… smashed avocado on toast.

    But seriously folks, remember this is Ireland, if you’re going to cheat the system make sure it’s white collar crime.

  12. phil

    There is a fair whiff of entitlement off the of the Right wingers too , some of their heroes had no problem with socialism late 2008. Some of their number feel entitled to be immune from road traffic laws .

    Im all for giving Leos view of the world a spin , if that includes properly doing away with cronyism and corruption . Free market capitalism fine, rigged market capitalism, enough of that

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      Entitlement is central to right wing thinking. Right wingers think business owners are entitled to free humans. Left wingers think sick people are “entitled” to seek help without worrying about how much it costs. Big difference.

      1. ahjayzis

        “Right wingers think business owners are entitled to free humans.”

        Oooh well put.

      2. Hans Landa

        Left wingers think they should never have to worry about how much anything costs.

  13. Hog

    A cynical move, by a disingenuous man, driven by a Freudian desire for firm, lingering pats on the back by the big, rich men who think they run this country. Just the kind of needy narcissist to put manners on the increasingly uppity lower classes. “We must put an end to this gathering notion that the little people have any agency. We must remind them that they are indecent human beings. We must remind them of their station. We must punish them. We must never let them at the trough. Runts.”

  14. scottser


    well, we used to have all of those things funded from general taxation until successive FG and FF governments decided that provision of state services considered them to be a ‘barrier to trade’. social housing, a free education and free healthcare are not the rantings of the looney left, they are the central core of irish society. not everyone is in a position to pay for those things and for those in poverty, lack of access to them simply perpetuate generations of crime and addiction.

    varadkar strikes me as a clever bloke. why is he being so dumb on poverty 101?

    1. Mark

      Well we’re still in a budget deficit lets not forget, and he is right that there is a huge amount of entitlement in Ireland. From public sector workers who want pay rises despite the fact that there is still a budget deficit to people in rural areas who expect the same services as cities despite the fact that people in cities essentially have to pay inordinate amounts of money on land to afford this access to services etc

      1. scottser

        you’ll find the sense of entitlement you speak of is more prevalent among the privileged classes. you think varadkar pulled himself up by his bootstraps to fund his own PhD? no, he had rich parents. a golden opportunity handed to him on a plate and he thinks he can justify his hypocrisy by saving a few quid on welfare fraud while he stays quiet on corruption by his mates and colleagues.

  15. Frilly Keane

    the rank and file
    and grass roots
    are going to go postal

    tell ye sum’ting else
    that Cat’rin Byrne better not knock on any door in Dublin South Central

  16. MoyestWithExcitement


    People think education and health care should be paid for out of the kitty we all throw into. But he wants to paint people as moochers so he uses the word ‘free’. That’s a conscious, cynical and worrying decision. He’s a dangerous, manipulative charlatan. Leo Varadkar is a legitimate threat to Ireland.

    1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

      I think you think he’s a legitimate threat to Ireland.
      A tad hyperbolic: I agree with much of what you say but lobbing that line in at the end of your statements makes me snigger every time you say it (a lot).

        1. scottser

          i’d say andyourpointiswhatexactly would absolutely cream you in a fight, moyest.

          1. mildred st. meadowlark

            She’d stuff him up like a Sunday chicken.

            I’m slightly afraid of her myself.

      1. MoyestWithExcitement

        Just so you know, I didn’t write ‘fupp’. People like you are just the worst.

        1. mildred st. meadowlark

          What age are you (roughly) Moyest? If you don’t mind my asking, that is.

          1. MoyestWithExcitement

            Definitely older than yourself, young Robert. Assuming you’re in your early 20s of course which you almost certainly are given your rather simplistic outlook on everything and obvious naivity.

          2. Rob_G

            That’s funny; I seem to remember a previous thread, long ago, when you said I must be nearing retirement age.

            Who do people think is older, me or Moyest?


          3. mildred st. meadowlark

            I would have said yiz were of a similar age. A wee bit older than myself, I think, and I thought that you, Rob, might have been a touch older than dear Moyest.

            And in my head Moyest has a beard.

          4. MoyestWithExcitement

            “Who do people think is older, me or Moyest?”

            Oh dear God. You’re actually a teenager.

          5. Rob_G

            This is gas.

            “… people you hate”

            “Fupp off you dullard”

            “You can smell the contempt for the human race off that post. His base are truly hate filled people.”

            – all from a single comments thread! Very few people over 23 talk in such a histrionic manner.

          6. MoyestWithExcitement

            Buddy, you *really* didn’t like it when I inferred you’re probably a naive young lad in his early 20s did you. This obsessive behaviour from you is both funny and tragic. Calm down, kid.

          7. Rob_G

            Not at all; I just think it is funny that you tell people to ‘calm down’ when you are most hysterical poster on this site (apart from maybe Sheik).

          8. MoyestWithExcitement

            Ah, projection. The last bastion of the angry curtain twitcher. Poor angry Rob.

  17. Mary Jane

    There are freeloaders out there who expect the Government (you the taxpayer) should pay for everything. Their sense of entitlement is sickening.

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      Correct. A mate of mine went on that Jobbridge thing for about 9 months and they just replaced him with another Jobbridge applicant. The amount of freeloading business owners who are so entitled that they expect us taxpayers to subsidise their business is truly sickening, you’re right.

  18. Pablo Pistachio

    I actually think Leo has just handed the next election to FF. These mad ‘hard right’ rants have worked so well for the PDs and Renua in recent years.
    Well done Leo, you’ve killed your party before you’ve even started. Long may these rants continue.

  19. Mary Jane

    I have worked for 25 years and paid my taxes and got nothing back from the state. Yet there are these parasitical types who never contributed a penny in direct tax, with little or no work ethic who believe it’s their god given right to get the state to pay for everything. They’re utterly selfish good for nothings.

    I’m not against welfare which genuinely helps people who have little or nothing but who are trying to get by. In which case it’s fair to distinguish between those in need and those who are freeloading on the backs of other peopl’s taxed income.

        1. scottser

          exactly, and has mary jane reported any such fraud she has witnessed to the authorites, i wonder?

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      Nothing back from the state?!?!? You’ve never walked on a footpath? And who are these people who’ve managed to go through their entire lives without paying a penny in VAT? Literally, who and where are these people, Mary Jane?

    2. Hog

      You haven’t had much of an education, Mary, that much is clear. And you’re a bit bitter about it, feeling a bit inferior, so you transfer that onto ‘freeloaders’. Your type is so tedious.

      1. Mary Jane

        Seriously don’t make me laugh. I consider myself working class having grown up in modest circumstances, but I was brought up to work and that’s what I did. I paid my way through college when there was no such thing as free third level education. I saved for a deposit and bought a modest little house which I still live in, all on taxed income. I’m far from bitter, but let’s cut out the leftist c**p the likes of the Socialist Workers Party, People Before Profit and all those other tossers go on with. I’ve met a few of them including Boyd Barrett who had quite a privileged up bringing.

        Let’s be clear about this, working class people (not underclass losers) want opportunity money and mobility, not ‘free money’. There are lazy tossers out there who expect everything to be free, and want it to remain that way. Taxes are for other people to pay.

    3. Frilly Keane

      the big super attenuated lump summed pensions in multiples of the Average Industrial Wage free loaders

      because thats what Enda and Noonan etc are
      collecting pensions they having actually paid in full for

    4. Liam

      The whole freeloaders thing is a distraction from the people who are really robbing the wealth of the state. Leo and his likes will tell you . Hey! watch out these ner do wells are stealing some of your crumbs from the table whilst Leo and the big business boys run of with the whole bread van. Its a distraction technique to divide and conquer the population. They see the country as an economy or a big people farm that they are going to exploit and not as a society!!

      1. Birneybau2

        Liam, 100%

        How people miss this point is beyond me, or they just decide not to see it.

    5. Barry the Hatchet

      You’ve never got anything back from the State? Are you fupping joking?

      Have you ever driven on a road? Taken public transport? Been to school or sent your children to school? Been to hospital? Had a baby? Been to a National Park? Had a free dental check-up/ vaccination/ cervical smear/ breast-check? Drank a glass of water from your tap or flushed your toilet (if you live in an urban centre)? Have you ever been to a museum or an art gallery or been to the theatre? Have you ever had to call the Gardai or the Fire Service? All of those things (and very many more besides) are funded by the State, you numpty.

      And that’s just for starters! Have you enjoyed a relatively crime-free existence in a civilised society where people have a long life-expectancy? Where children are educated and aren’t sent down mine-shafts at 12 years old? Where our air, rivers and lakes are relatively pollution free? Where your biggest fupping gripe in life is whinging on the internet that poor people have it too easy? Well you can thank the State for that too.

      1. Frilly Keane

        ah now Barry
        you’ve just climbed right up onto my t1ts
        I pay Motor tax, absurd VRT, and Fuel Costs, and Tolls – alongside unexplained massive Insurance with levies, NCTs etcs
        I pay bus, luas, dart and rail fares
        yep the whole school thing too, but my parents also paid absurd taxes – particularly my Mother, alongside school fees to go to a non-Convent School
        yep, had the baba, my private (self paid) Insurance paid for everything, and my Maternity Benefit was significantly less than my previous years PRSI contributions, so twas nawght more than a rebate
        I pay Income Tax in advance of any tax return by way of Witholding Tax
        I pay PRSI, USC, VAT, and on the rare and welcome occasion I’ve paid CGT,
        I paid 12% stamp Duty on my family home
        while I’ve been fortunate to not need the services of the Fire Brigade I can promise you if I did, I would get billed for it

        AND IN MY LIFE
        I have never had the benefit of the 20% ish effective rate that Leo’s friends insist they are entitled to because they provide 80% for the tax take. They say. but they don’t their companies do.

        If I pay, without too much complaint, circa 58% of my entire income (2016 anyway) in taxes, levies and charges and stamps and wtf else stealthing along in there
        Surely bay’ta Jaysus I’m entitled to have a Police Force that are capable and honest and treat us all with some basic decency

        who are the free loaders? in case you’re wondering like
        I can promise you its not those in need of Social Welfare
        its not the PAYE worker in the Private Sector
        Its not the Self Employed Sole Traders
        Its not the girls on Maternity Benefit
        or the daddys with their Paternity Benefit

        Sean Fitz today got the benefit of Free Legal Aid
        go tell him and his buddies in the Mespil set he’s a sponger
        they’re all spongers and see what happens

        1. Cian

          Small point, it’s unlikely you pay tax at 58% of your entire income.

          A single person would pay the following (Tax, USC and PRSI) for the following income levels – this is getting 0 in tax relief – which is unlikely:
          * 25K pays 3K tax (13% tax)
          * 50K pays 14K tax (28% tax)
          * 75K pays 26K tax (35% tax)
          * 100K pays 40K tax (40% tax)
          * 200K pays 91K tax (45% tax)
          * 1000K pays 507K tax (51% tax)

  20. Otis Blue

    Leo’s own Ministry, the DSP, will likely spend €65m in 2017 – in payments to the private sector – on workfare initiatives for the long- term unemployed.


    One should note that these numbers do not appear on the live register and thus belie the political narrative that unemployment is now of the order of 6%.

    The true figure is likely 15%


    It should be noted that Jobpath was originally introduced not by Varadkar but by Joan Burton.

    1. Cian

      Finfacts says the true figure is 15% but also states:
      “We recognise the dramatic improvement in the jobs market since the peak of the official rate at 15.2% in January 2012, when the broad rate was at 25%”

  21. LuvinLunch

    does he mean Denis O’Brien and Bono?

    Apparently when he was training as a doctor he used to steal sausages off the patients’ plates…

  22. nellyb

    it’s an airtime filler, neither had said anything intelligent or interesting or challenging.
    why don’t RTE just run old tapes over and over again? I bet you’d be struggling to spot the difference :-) And it would cost effective too.

  23. Nigel

    Well this is a cold wind blowing. Austerity going from a so-called ‘hard choice’ to the only sensible way to make sure there are no freeloaders, or at least no poor ones.

  24. ahjayzis

    What percentage of his four million euro pension pot did Enda contribute?

    What’s Leo’s contribution to his?

    Oh fupp all? Oh everyone else is paying? Gotcha.

    1. nellyb

      With all due disrespect to professional politicians, they know they won’t have a pension as large as Mary Harney. Sorry as Mary Harney’s.

        1. martco

          Frilly you seem to have a good GE statto from previous posts

          he won his constituency last time out, correct? but it was 5 seater and the margins were v.tight…not much between 1st an 6th if I remember…can’t find the info it but I think a SF fella narrowly lost out to Joan who scraped the last seat

          esp given its Dublin West any chance this chancer might get this top job he craves but then miss his seat back next time out? i’d enjoy dat

          1. LW

            Not a hope. He romped home last time, he’s the only sitting FG in the constituency, his seat is safe as houses. The stuff he’s saying appeals to his base

          2. Frilly Keane

            Nah Martie
            he’s a poll topper
            and will continue to be one

            he could cut SW
            Get rid of the fuel allowance
            and Medical Cards
            and Bus Passes
            be videoed kicking the poo poo out of a puppy and get caught in Pheonix Park after midnight
            and the Castleknock set will still get him in

            It was Joan that was supposed to miss out the last time insteada the Shinner
            Media cuntology etc etc
            But that Shinner will sail through next time
            and so will Coppinger

            The FFer might has sumting to say
            but hasn’t lately

  25. Junkface

    Jesus, the day after this bull from Leo Varadkar, Sean Fitzpatrick walks FREE after commiting one of the biggest , if not The biggest FRAUDS in Irish history!!

    [slow hand clap]

    same ol brand of Irish politician again. Golden Circle fanboy. FG are awful

  26. Spaghetti Hoop

    He has really polarized his support base there with that statement. Didn’t even pledge to support the vulnerable in society. I’m no supporter of career dole-heads, in fact I apply the white feather wartime analogy to those that are fit and able to work. But boy there are a lot of hurt and ripped-off honest workers and tax-payers, who have strong opinions on white-collar financial crime and have paid dearly for their misdemeanors.It’s a serious wound to heal.

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      There are also lots and lots of career dole-heads who are utterly depressed over it. The idea that there are loads of people living the life on €188 a week and laughing at all the ‘working stiffs’ is just a myth.

  27. Serval

    So, there are 2 scenarios here:
    1. He is so stupid and unaware as to actually believe what he said and he is unaware that people are actually upset that billionaire corporations pay less tax than ordinary people and got bailed out by ordinary taxpayers who then had to suffer Austerity.

    2. He is fully aware of why people are upset but he is lying in order to divide and conquer.

    Either way he is a fupper.

    This will be like our Obama moment.
    Make a huge Liberal social statement by getting a gay, mixed race leader.
    Then watch while he continues status quo politics that rob the poor to benefit the wealthy.

    1. Sheik Yahbouti

      It’s beyond bizzarre, CJ, and I know you didn’t get to where you are today by not knowing ‘bizarre’ when you see it! :-)

  28. Andy

    I love it.

    The reaction on here fully endorses his view.

    Why would Leo be espousing policies and views which would be well-received by Broadsheet’s commentators? Hysterical leftist, who want “the rich” to pay for everything, is not his target audience.

    And hopefully its not just aimed at welfare scroungers. He should be targeting those on lower earnings who pay no income tax. About 35% to 40% of the work force is exempt.

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      There ya go. You can smell the contempt for the human race off that post. His base are truly hate filled people.

    2. Yep

      “The reaction on here fully endorses his view.”

      That really doesn’t make sense.

      1. Andy

        It makes perfect sense.

        100+ comments – 90% negative.

        his target audience is the opposite of those who comment here.

        1. Frilly Keane

          He doesn’t care about us
          If he did
          I’d start t’worry about him

          Tis the Blueshurt 65% plus the Councillors he’s going ta’have ta’ calm down

        2. scottser

          and his big mistake will be thinking that a democracy and a marketing survey are the same thing.

    3. Frilly Keane

      That might be so
      But most of the Blueshurts
      Particularly the vulnerable ones
      Who only last week were grinning with him on the steps of Leinster House
      With start to have ‘doubts’

      Watch what happens as Cork Simon goes branch t’branch

  29. Geraldine Morley

    Seriously I cannot believe the crap that comes out of his mouth. Yes there are people who abuse the welfare system but I would guess it is not as many as Leo would have us believe. There are plenty of genuine people in need. Leo seems to want to lay blame for monetary problems on the welfare cheats, what about the bankers, the politicians and the large businesses who pay no tax? They are cheating us every single day. What does Leo plan on doing about that?

    1. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

      The problem Geraldine, and I know you already know…..
      Way too many people will listen to a man in a suit
      Suits talk.

      I have a suit myself.
      I wear it whenever I want to be deceitful / disingenuous, etc.
      Funerals / Weddings / {Political discussions / Family reunions / anything really. I have no qualms. I have a suit.

  30. anne

    “entitlement culture’…”Bondholders or somebody else should pay”. .. wtf. seriously. This is orwellian stuff.

    L O fupping L.

  31. Ted

    In a weird way, I’m almost impressed.
    At a time in Ireland where it’s harder and harder for most people to even rent somewhere sub-par or to pay for car insurance, where there’s record levels of homelessness and deeply-embedded issues with corruption and responsibility in the upper management of organisations like the HSE, Garda Siochana, etc., it takes MASSIVE balls to publicly claim (based on purely anecdotal statements) that a serious problem in Irish society is “some people” who expect everything for free.

    1. Ted

      Incidentally, I would imagine that this is how Leo will try to introduce privatisation of services like transport, water, health, etc. – as a reaction against “those people” who expect everything for free & just want to drain Irish society dry.

  32. anne

    Oh puke, he’s on prime time on rte plus 1.

    “For people who get up early in the morning, I’m you’re only man..with me at the helm you’ll all be up early”. Puke.

    1. anne

      Ye deleted some there BS. It was about him selling himself.. he’s coming across as a bit of a hoor in fairness.. Is that any better? Am I allowed say that?

    2. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

      Do you not think, Anne…
      – How can I put this…?

      Do you not think you were maybe ever so slightly homophobic earlier on?
      Just a little bit?

      I know you know everything and all that, but yeah…

        1. MoyestWithExcitement

          She’s been revolting against the establishment for years. More power to her.

  33. Sean

    I’ve a job, earn a modest wage, have no problem with my taxes being used to provide for the most vulnerable in our society, find it sickening what he is doing with the social welfare cheats as well, all that fuss to save about 50m a year ?. I do have a problem with guaranteeing banks to the tune of 80 billion though, foreign bond holders etc. Really fear for our society if this man is the next Taoiseach surely as a gay man he should know how vulnerable certain people in our system are and I feel he is stocking the flames of hatred towards the least well off in our society.

  34. bobsyerauntie

    I’m extremely disappointed in Leo Varadker. You would surely expect a gay man to understand deeply about the damaging effects of ‘marginalization’? Leo has effectively (in a rather misguided rant) just attacked the most marginalized in Irish society. Not everyone is born into middle class privilege like Leo. Many in Ireland do not have a chance of social mobility at all. The ingrained social apartheid in Irish society, cultivates the division of class, and perpetual inequality, which Leo is alluding to in this interview. Furthermore, it seems that Leo understands absolutely nothing about those who he seeks to marginalize with his glib, ignorant comments. To say that Irish society can be simply divided into two groups : “one group of people who pay for everything, and another who want everything for free” is reductive and does nothing but perpetuate stereotypical class divisions. Nothing is free in this world, even the homeless have to pay for shelter, in hostels etc. Even the homeless have to eat. Those on welfare in Ireland, literally just about get by. They just about survive living hand to mouth, week to week. The entitlement culture exists much more at the top tier of Irish society than at the bottom. Leo’s Thatcherite vision of Ireland is disturbing, particularly because it’s coming from a gay man, but perhaps Leo’s privileged background has sheltered him from the worst of the typical marginalization that gay men have experienced in Ireland, and elsewhere? Saying that- He’s still young enough though, and there’s always room for change, and epiphany, in his life. Having compassion, not contempt, for those less fortunate might be a good place for him to start…

    1. dingdong

      What has Leo’s vision got to do with his sexuality ? Can a gay man not be right- wing? So bored of this cheap infantile argument that is being peddled out on the sheet .Being gay and right – wing are not mutually exclusive

      1. bobserauntie

        His classist vision has everything to do with his sexuality because as a gay man he should have more compassion, and less contempt, for the less fortunate and the marginalized but he doesn’t seem to- this is odd..

  35. EightersGonnaEight

    “they’re people who do exist in Ireland, unfortunately, there is a degree of an entitlement culture.”

    He’s correct. They’re called old people. Big pensions, prejudice, free travel, you name it.

Comments are closed.