Leo urges solidarity in emotional Dail speech

LEO Varadkar has said we don’t need to look across the Atlantic to find racism because it is “insidious” in Ireland too.

The Taoiseach made a heartfelt speech in the Dail as protests grow worldwide following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Mr Varadkar, whose father is from India, said the world has watched in horror the events that have unfolded in the US.

He added: “It has prompted a palpable outpouring of emotion, spontaneous expressions of solidarity against the poison of racism.

“We have also seen genuine revulsion at the heavy-handed response in some instances towards peaceful protesters and journalists.

“We have witnessed the absence of moral leadership or words of understanding, comfort or healing from whence they should have come. It is right to be angered injustice. Racism is a virus, transmitted at an early age, perpetuated too by prejudice, sustained by systems, often unrecognised by those whom it

Taoiseach

by affects, possible to counteract and correct for, but never easy to cure.”

Mr Varadkar described the Ireland he grew up in as a “very different place to the one we live in today”. He said: “In recent decades we have been enriched by racial diversity – people of colour who came here and more born here.

“However, we do not need to look across the Atlantic to find racism. We have many examples in our own country.

“Discrimination on the basis of skin colour or race is pernicious.”

The Taoiseach is urging the nation to use the togetherness shown in tackling coronavirus to beat discrimination.

He added: “Let us use that sense of solidarity and community to take on racism and change the experiences of young people of colour in Ireland for the better.”

CALL