Veep’s invitation to Leo & Matt
Taoiseach and New York mayor Bill de Blasio TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has denied contacting Clare County Council after Donald Trump called him over a wind farm development in Doonbeg, near the President’s luxury golf course.
The Fine Gael leader, who was tourism minister at the time, said he emailed Failte Ireland instead.
Speaking in New York he said: “I’m happy to clarify that. I was telling a humorous anecdote about something that happened four years ago.
“The humorous part and the joke was that the President was giving me credit and praise for something I didn’t actually do.
“I didn’t have a clear recollection at the time but I have gone back now and checked the records.
“I didn’t actually contact Clare County Council, either verbally or in writing.
“I did however contact Failte. I did that via email to the CEO of Failte.
“Failte has a statutory remit to look at planning applications and see if they could have a negative impact on tourism. They were aware of the development already and did make representations to the council, all entirely within procedure and all entirely above board.”
The Taoiseach’s department last night released a transcript of the email he sent to Shaun Quinn at Failte about Mr Trump’s concerns. Hi Shaun
I took a call from Donald Trump last Friday. He is concerned about plans to build very large wind farms near Doonbeg. I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of it but I did commit to asking Failte to review the planning applications or development plan for Clare as appropriate with a view to making observations if the agency shared his concerns about the impact on landscapes and tourism.
I would appreciate it if you could do so.
Leo TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar and his partner have been invited to the home of anti-gay marriage Vice President Mike Pence.
This is seen as significant because Mr Pence is considered to be an extreme social conservative and is anti-gay marriage.
Mr Varadkar told reporters outside the Irish Arts Center in New York what they had talked about in private at the breakfast meeting that was closed to media yesterday. However, it is understood he did talk about the matter during a private conversation with Mr Pence.
He invited Mr Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett to visit his home.
The Taoiseach told reporters outside the Irish Arts Center in
New York what they had talked about in private at the breakfast meeting that was closed to media yesterday. He added: “They [Vice President and his wife] were very well briefed, they knew my personal story, they knew that my partner is living in Chicago, they said that both Matt and I would be very welcome to visit their home in future.
The Taoiseach said the couple will consider the invitation.
He added: “Matt’s not terribly keen on attending official functions, but you never know.”