Leo dresses things up with pop at Paschal

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar yesterday took a playful pop at his Minister for Finance, suggesting Paschal Donohoe will be dressing up for Halloween.

At the end of his weekly video message yesterday, Mr Varadkar joked: ‘Next week of course is Halloween. So I’m very keen to find out what costume Paschal Donohoe is going to wear this year. He won’t tell me, but I’m sure we’ll find out next week – so happy Halloween.’

Asked about the joke, Mr Donohoe’s spokeswoman said it was hardly at the Finance Minister’s expense, adding: ‘It’s Halloween. Doesn’t everyone dress up?’

A Dracula outfit could be appropriate, given that ministers for finance in Ireland have been portrayed in cartoons as vampires with blood-sucking fangs. Mr Varadkar has ushered in a new climate of ‘roast’ jokes in Irish politics, of the type seen at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

IN his weekly message to the nation, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday talked about Halloween and made a lame joke speculating about the costume Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe might wear. Halloween is primarily a night out for children, and such levity will land with a dull thud in the temporary accommodation that is ‘home’ to more than 3,000 children this weekend.

This newspaper has never been part of the chorus that says the only solution to the housing crisis is to throw more money at it. There are some parents who have refused offers of permanent homes because the properties are in the ‘wrong’ areas, and others afraid to take the Housing Assistance Payment because they fear it will force them down the list for proper council housing.

We should be addressing homelessness before it happens, not afterwards.

The origins of this crisis, however, do not really matter to the children who will go trick-or-treating and then return to a hotel room or a shared hub. The Government needs to end this blight on our society – by whatever means are required.