Gardaí investigating after woman throws smoothie over Leo Varadkar

‘When I saw her coming towards me I thought she was Avril Lavigne at first’, Tánaiste says

Speaking at Government Buildings, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he hadn’t yet spoken to the gardaí about the incident. Photograph: PA

Gardaí are investigating an incident during which a woman threw a smoothie over Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in Dublin city centre on Friday.

In a video circulated on social media, a woman holding a skateboard approaches Mr Varadkar while he is recording an interview with a camera crew in Merrion Square.

The short video shows the woman walk up to the camera crew and pause, before throwing a drink over the Fine Gael leader, and then turning and running away.

Commenting on the incident, Mr Varadkar said: “When I saw her coming towards me I thought she was Avril Lavigne at first, because she had the skateboard.” A reference to popstar Avril Lavigne, known for her 2002 hit song Sk8er Boi.

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“But unfortunately [she]wasn’t and also had a smoothie, which ended up all over my face and halfway down my suit,” he said.

In a statement, a Garda spokesman said gardaí “are investigating an incident that occurred in Merrion Square today, 18/09/2020, at approximately 3pm”.

Mr Varadkar said he had been filming a video to explain additional Covid-19 restrictions to come into force in Dublin on Friday.

“We got it finished thankfully, and that will be posted later this evening,” he said. “I had a spare suit and got on with the day’s work.”

“I haven’t spoken to the gardaí yet, but I believe they want to speak to me, but that’ll be next week,” he said.

Responding to queries around the level of security afforded to senior politicians he said: “I still have a Garda driver, but I don’t have any security detail as such, I don’t think one incident would justify that quite frankly.”

Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin described the actions as "bang out of order" and an example of "cowardly nonsense".

In a post on Twitter he said: “Ireland is a democracy where politicians are accessible and freely mingle with the people. If this is your way of expressing your viewpoint, you need to reassess your argument,” he said.

Jack Power

Jack Power

Jack Power is acting Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times