SOCIAL Protection Minister Leo Varadkar is a marvel.
So says Fianna Fáil Social Protection Spokesperson Willie O’Dea who was responding to the news that Minister Varadkar has been recruited by RTÉ to present a late night radio show.
“Leo Varadkar is a marvel. As Minister for Health and now as Minister for Social Protection, he has turned on their head the traditional, constitutional notions of a Cabinet Minister, where a person is appointed by the Taoiseach and paid well by the State to take responsibility for a Government department,” the Limerick Fianna Fáil TD said.
“Instead, he has crafted a role for himself as resident chat show panelist and a sort of celebrity political commentator, where he muses on how terrible things are, and how something should be done. When it comes to actual political accountability and having a vision for the department he is responsible for, he is nowhere to be seen.”
According to the Limerick politician, this has now been taken to a whole new level, as we learn that Minister Varadkar is to take up a role as “some sort of stand-in late night DJ on RTÉ”.
“The country is suffering from truly shocking levels of deprivation and the Social Protection Minister is planning to take on a radio show. If it was anyone else, it would be called out and ridiculed as an unprecedented self-promoting absurdity. But it’s no problem for Leo Varadkar. Indeed, it is a natural progression for the most hands-off minister in modern times.
Leo Varadkar’s apparent special relationship with RTÉ has been the subject of wonder in political circles for some time. The news that he is to join the broadcasting staff would appear to only confirm that special relationship,” Deputy O’Dea concluded.
by Alan Jacques
