LEO: I’VE HAD RACIST ABUSE
Taoiseach victim of hate speech and homophobia
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has spoken out about his experiences of racist abuse both on the street and online but says he is thankful that he has not been subjected to violence.
He also confirmed to journalists this week that he has been a victim of homophobia. Mr Varadkar said: ‘If you are mixed race, and if you are a person of colour,
FIANNA FÁIL TD John McGuinness has insisted he will defy his party leader by refusing to back the Government if there is a confidence vote in the Dáil, which could spark an early election.
On Friday, the Taoiseach warned Micheál Martin he would have to force some of his rebel TDs to back the two main parties’ confidence and supply agreement if he wants an agreed date for a general election.
‘I would need the assurance from Micheál Martin that he actually has the support of his party for this, and if he is going to have dissidents in his party that go against the whip, that he will be able to provide people who counterbalance, perhaps, that, by voting with us on motions rather than abstaining,’ Mr Varadkar said.
‘I cannot make it clearer. I will vote no confidence’
Senior Fine Gael figures have warned Micheál Martin to ‘rein John McGuinness and his own troops in’ amid concerns a rebellion by the Carlow-Kilkenny TD on a no-confidence motion in the Government could spark an unwanted election early in the New Year.
Yesterday, Mr McGuinness reiterated his position that he would vote against the Government if there is a full motion of confidence, telling the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The mood is for change; people are coming up to me in the street and saying when are you getting them out? They have to go.’
A Fine Gael source told the MoS: ‘Micheál is going to have to impose some authority on McGuinness. If he votes against the Government, then it will be a tie.’ The party was concerned ‘with what other political clowns might follow his lead’, the source said. Mr McGuinness has warned twice that he would break party ranks if there was a full motion on the Government – first after the defeated motion on Eoghan Murphy and again in a tweet, and now again to the MoS.
‘If McGuinness votes against the Government, two or three more will not hold the line,’ a source said. ‘Anyone with a dodgy seat will not be able to resist the glory of saying they brought down the Government. They will be out there parading up and down on the plinth agonising in front of the cameras.’
Mr Martin, they added, ‘won’t be able to do anything; he won’t be shedding candidates in the middle of an election’.
Mr Varadkar discussed the timing of an election this week with ministers, but did not express a preference. The two party leaders will meet in the New Year to discuss the deal in which Fianna Fáil abstains on Budget and confidence votes in order to prop up the minority Fine Gael-led administration.
Mr Martin separately fired several barbs at Mr Varadkar, claiming Fine Gael was planning a ‘Boris Johnson-style campaign’ with nasty ‘attack dog’ tactics, adding: ‘That’s dirty politics, dirty-tricks stuff within the bowels of the Fine Gael press office. Let them at it but I’m
not going down that route.’ A source close to the leadership in Fianna Fáil dismissed Mr McGuinness’s threat to rebel: ‘That’s just John replaying his eternal boy who cried wolf role.’
But speaking to the MoS, Mr McGuinness was emphatic. ‘I cannot make it any clearer. If a party brings forward a motion of no confidence in the Government, I will vote against the Government.’
The Finance Committee chair said: ‘I made it clear a year ago in the motion of no confidence in Simon Harris that the Government should after that motion engage in an orderly wind-down. They have had a more-than-sufficient opportunity to do so.’
He warned: ‘Confidence and supply has brought politics into a state of disrepute. Four more months of the Dáil as a talking shop will only accelerate this.
‘Issues like Votegate [where TDs vote for each other] are occurring because of a deeper malaise. People have lost respect for politics. Politicians have lost respect for politics.’
And responding to claims that he was just crying wolf, Mr Mc Guinness added: ‘They would not want to be testing me on it.’
Mr McGuinness’s renewed warning comes amid growing political consensus that an election should not be held until April at the earliest.
Within Fine Gael, dismal opinion polls and ongoing chaos in candidate selection have chilled any enthusiasm for a snap election.
The attitude will likely not be improved by today’s figures showing Fianna Fáil has narrowed the gap, up two points to 27%, matching Fine Gael who are static at 27%, according to the latest Sunday Times Business and Attitudes poll.