Varadkar plays us for fools

IT’S depressing how easily Leo Varadkar can fool the public.

He got great headlines and a lot of praise for his stand against hospital doctors and nurses taking time off over Christmas. People think he’s a tough talker, delivering a few home truths.

In fact, though, it’s a farce. First, he didn’t provide any evidence about staffing rosters over Christmas. I don’t know if his claim is true at all. And second, even if it is true, he’s not actually going to do anything about this. Rostering is in the hands of the HSE, and specifically in the hands of management at each individual hospital.

So Varadkar’s ‘tough’ stand is no more effective than some radio or TV pundit mouthing off. Curiously, it’s a tactic used constantly by Donald Trump as a way of distracting the public and shifting the debate.

Pathetic. Amy O’Neill, Co. Tipperary.