“I don’t intend to comment one way or the other in relation to that or to any other individual who has their private time to themselves.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Tanáiste Leo Varadkar is entitled to private time amid controversy over his attendance at a UK music festival over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters in Cork on Monday, Martin said that “what the Tanáiste does in his private time is a matter for the Tanáiste”.
“I don’t intend to comment one way or the other in relation to that or to any other individual who has their private time to themselves,” he added.
“I made my position clear on it. My view is, the Tanáiste in his private time is entitled to… and that’s it – It’s a matter for him.”
Martin’s comments come as a photograph of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar attending a music festival in the UK on the same weekend Electric Picnic was scheduled to take place has been circulating online over the weekend.
The picture shows Varadkar at the Mighty Hoopla festival at Brockwell Park in London.
It was subsequently shared by many online, including Event Manager Buzz O’Neill-Maxwell, who accused the Tánaiste of having “zero shame”.
Ignores our calls to open up our entertainment industry, then fucks off to a festival in the UK.. @mightyhoopla . Zero shame @LeoVaradkar pic.twitter.com/AzzIgTefjB
— Buzz O'Neill-Maxwell (@buzzoneill) September 4, 2021
Over the weekend, a spokesperson for the Tánaiste said that he is “currently in the UK on private time where such events are allowed”.
The spokesperson added that the “Tánaiste is one of the strongest supporters of the events industry in Government” and that he “supported Electric Picnic going ahead and helped secure the re-opening plan for concerts and other big events”.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
