Sinn Féin government will leave Ireland ‘out of the tent’ in Europe, says Varadkar

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has compared Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald’s potential government leadership to that of right-wing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, while warning that a Sinn Féin-led government would leave Ireland outside the tent in Europe.

“If Mary Lou became Taoiseach, there would only be three potential prime ministers who would be out of the tent of the normal mainstream parties. Viktor Orbán in Hungary, potentially Mary Lou McDonald in Ireland and, if it happens, the new far-right prime minister in Italy. It is that serious,” he said.

“Instead of being at the heart of the European Union, with a pro-European government, a government that gets invited to the pre-meetings, the post-meetings, is in the tent when the decisions are made, you would have a eurosceptic government and our influence will be diminished.”

There is also a “big concern” that the energy crisis could reverse years of falling deprivation levels, Mr Varadkar said.

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Speaking at the Fine Gael think-in, being held this weekend in Kilkenny, Mr Varadkar said the past seven years have seen falling deprivation, decreasing levels of poverty and increasing income equality.

“A lot of people don’t know that, don’t accept it, but that’s true,” he said. “I am concerned that that will go into reverse as a consequence of inflation and energy bills. It’s a big concern that I have, I don’t want to see the progress that we’ve made over the past seven years go into reverse. And that’s why we need to respond with scale.”

Mr Varadkar also predicted that Fine Gael could lead the centre ground of Irish politics following the next election, describing their current polling position in the low 20 per cent range as a “good base to build on”.

“I’d like to bring us back up to somewhere in the mid-20s or better and in that scenario, with an increased first preference, with better transfers from our coalition partners ... and with a larger Dáil, we’d be aiming to gain seats in the next election,” he said.

“We want to strengthen the centre ground of Irish politics, hopefully have Fine Gael lead the centre ground of Irish politics and be in a position to form another government after the next election.”

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who will go on maternity leave for a second time this year, said progress is being made to accommodate politicians who give birth during their term in office, but that more needed to be done.

She said the Government was working on arrangements for local politicians and TDs.

“I think the challenge arises, particularly with ministers, and the fact that our Constitution is very clear: we can only have 15 Cabinet ministers. So that’s obviously a much bigger decision that would have to be taken, potentially changing the Constitution to allow for more ministers, or to specifically adjust that you would have room for somebody who was going on maternity leave.”