THIS SAGA WAS A SLAP IN THE FACE FOR WORKERS, PUB OWNERS AND HOTELIERS

AFTER a week of ducking and diving, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar finally graced us with his presence on Friday evening. For someone who usually has a lot to say about everything, Mr Varadkar, along with all of his senior Cabinet colleagues, went missing in action last week.

The Tánaiste’s behaviour led to chaos with regard to hospitality guidelines and have undermined the credibility of the Government’s own public health guidelines.

We have seen, time and time again, that he does not like being held to account for his actions, so his latest attempt at a Houdini act came as a surprise to nobody.

When the Opposition points out that he has been in government for ten years and that he needs to take responsibility for exacerbating the housing crisis, he indignantly throws his toys out of the pram and tells us to ‘calm down’.

When accused of abusing the office of the Taoiseach by using his former position to leak a GP contract document, he ducks and dives, and changes his story. Squirming, wriggling and deflections are nothing new when it comes to Mr Varadkar. It is what we have come to expect.

But if he thought he could sit this out and avoid accountability or answering any questions on these matters, then he had another thing coming.

Yet what we got from him on the Six One on Friday was a typically self-serving interview, solely focused on protecting his own position.

It will have done little to change the belief of many people that the hospitality guidelines have been amended to give cover to Mr Varadkar for his attendance at the Merrion Hotel bash.

To protect his own position, he sought to distance himself from his responsibilities as Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment.

People are sick of Fine Gael cronyism and lack of accountability, and sick of a feeble Fianna Fáil leadership that facilitates them

at every turn. The public deserves better than this. Such behaviour is one of the many reasons we hear on the doorsteps why there is an ever-growing appetite for change.

Aloof, detached and entitled – that is the Fine Gael way. But they won’t have it all their own way forever.

As the lead party of Opposition, Sinn Féin will ensure that this Government is held to account for what has been exposed over the last fortnight.

That includes the crony stroke-politics appointment of a former colleague to a made-up position that was to be paid for out of the public purse.

If the UN Special Envoy on Freedom of Opinion and Expression job offered to Katherine Zappone was not, as Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney insisted, a made-up role, then will the Government look to recruit someone else for the position now that she isn’t going to accept it?

If they do not, then that is surely an admission that it was, in fact, a makey-up cushy role for their former colleague who just so happened to lose her seat at the last general election.

We have once again been mired in a scandal that involves favours for friends of Fine Gael. Did Mr Varadkar discuss this job offer with Ms Zappone at this bash for the privileged few? These are among the many questions that the Tánaiste has yet to answer.

EVEN by his standards, Mr Varadkar’s willingness to undermine the credibility of the Government’s own health guidelines and the public solidarity needed to get us safely through the remainder of this pandemic, simply to save his own skin, is a new low.

The guidelines were last week amended to give cover to those who attended the Merrion Hotel bash in an attempt to retrospectively get the Tánaiste off the hook for an event he should not have been at.

An event that, six days later, the host of which was offered a plum made-up position funded by taxpayers.

On Prime Time last Thursday, it was put to Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne that the bash ‘was lawful but it didn’t meet the guidelines, is that what you’re saying?’

Kyne, assuming the role of Government mudguard, said: ‘That’s basically it.’

There you have it. An admission from Fine Gael that Mr Varadkar, and those around him, think the rules and regulations faced by ordinary people do not apply to them.

The fact that Fáilte Ireland had to revise their guidelines shows that this whole debacle has added yet another layer of confusion to a weary public, weary workers and weary business owners scrambling to survive.

The Tánaiste complained in his interview on Friday that the Fáilte Ireland guidelines were unclear, but they had been looking for clarity from the Government for weeks!

Nobody in Government can suggest with a straight face that from the June Bank Holiday onwards, they were permitted to have organised events outdoors in a hotel or restaurant or bar for up to 200 people.

That came as news to the industry. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable.

The reality is the guidelines from Fáilte Ireland that were in place made it very clear that you could not book multiple tables.

The Tánaiste’s actions, and the week he spent in hiding, are an insult to everyone who has played their part in complying with regulations to get through this pandemic.

It is a slap in the face to all those workers in hospitality, to all those restaurant owners, pub owners and hoteliers, who are just about keeping their heads above water as they adhere to very necessary public health restrictions.

These revelations underline how out of touch the Government is with the real life sacrifices being made, and are further proof of why we need change, and why there is an appetite from the public for a general election.