‘You would be surprised how many ask me when I am going back to India’ – Leo

‘It can just be that people treat you differently’

you do experience a degree of racism and discrimination. If you’re a gay man or a gay woman you do experience a degree of homophobia. It’s just the way it is.

‘I never experienced any violence, thankfully, but it can certainly range from name-calling and things like that as you walk down the street. Or it can be the kind of stuff you can see for yourself online, or it can be just the fact that people treat you differently. Little things,’ said the Taoiseach.

Mr Varadkar was discussing his experiences of discrimination in an interview with journalists in Government Buildings, Dublin, this week.

Mr Varadkar’s father is a doctor from India and his mother a nurse from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.

The issue of racism emerged several times during a wideranging interview session, particularly in questions about former Fine Gael candidate Verona Murphy and Independent, Government-supporting TD Noel Grealish, who claimed Nigerians were sending large sums of money out of the country.

Mr Varadkar was born in Dublin, but people do not always make that distinction in conversation, he said.

’You’d be surprised at the amount of people in the last couple of days who have heard I will be visiting India with my family and have asked me when am I going back to India,’ said Mr Varadkar.

‘They don’t mean it that way, but it is a way of thinking. I was born in the Rotunda. I’m not from India,’ he said.

Mr Varadkar at first appeared reluctant to enter a discussion about his personal experiences with racism, saying: ‘I don’t particularly want to go into that area.’

He said later: ‘People don’t hear what they’re saying sometimes but I’ve also never been somebody who goes on about it. I have a good life. I’ve done well. I’ve very little to complain about, much less so than other people who I’m sure have experienced the kind of racism I’ve never had, or have experienced the kind of homophobia I’ve managed to avoid.

‘So, I don’t like to engage in complaining about it or any selfpity because I think that’s disrespectful to those who have experienced the kind of racism that I could never imagine.’

Mr Varadkar used the traditional pre-Christmas interview with political correspondents to reaffirm Fine Gael attacks on Ms Murphy, who has been accused of being anti-immigrant.

He said he is glad former byelection candidate Ms Murphy did not get elected and said her remarks about migrants and possible terrorist attacks here feed into racist views.

Hitting back at the failed Wexford candidate and her criticism of Fine Gael this week, Mr Varadkar admitted it was a ‘mistake’ selecting Ms Murphy to run for his party in the first place.

Mr Varadkar admitted that if Ms Murphy had managed to win a seat that this could have ‘emboldened’ her and resulted in more claims around migrants.

Ms Murphy was dropped by the party earlier last week as a general election candidate. She caused outrage during the recent Wexford by-election by claiming asylum seekers needed to be ‘deprogrammed’ and that they may have been influenced by terrorist group Isis.

This week, Ms Murphy did not rule out running as an

Independent. She said she had been briefed about migrants by groups such as Interpol, and she asked whether Wexford Bridge may be subject to a terrorist attack, as London had been.

Mr Varadkar condemned her remarks: ‘It really feeds into the kind of racist and xenophobic views that unfortunately are harboured by a lot of people, or at least some people, in our society.

Asked if he regretted selecting Ms Murphy, Mr Varadkar said: ‘Yes, it was a mistake, and I accept responsibility for that mistake.’

Last month, Mr Varadkar himself was accused of making ‘dangerous’ remarks about illegal immigration after he singled out Georgians and Albanians with fake documents as being behind a 60% rise in numbers seeking asylum here.

Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council said ‘to pick out particular nationalities is dangerous’ and that the Taoiseach’s comments ‘suggest everyone from those countries is not a refugee or doesn’t have claim for refugee status’.