Senator Sharon Keogan has said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is “out of touch” with the Irish people after comments he made abroad about St. Patrick.
Speaking at an event for Irish diaspora in Boston, Varadkar said that Ireland’s patron saint was “a migrant” and “a single, male, undocumented one”.
“The story of St Patrick teaches us that migration is nothing new. It has always been part of our national story,” he said.
Critics have pointed out that the young Briton who would later become Ireland’s patron saint and arguably its most famous symbol was brought to Ireland as a slave, and not through a process of regular migration.
Questioning what St. Patrick means to Varadkar, Senator Keogan said that the Taoiseach “needs to listen to the people.” adding that “comments like that, clearly shows how out of touch he is with what’s happening in this country.”
Referring to an ongoing situation where dozens of tents have been erected around the International Protection Office on Mount Street, Dublin as growing numbers of single male asylum seekers are not provided with state accommodation, Senator Keogan questioned what the Taoiseach’s comments mean to the men in those tents.
“We have to control our borders, if we do not control our borders, more of what is happening in Dublin with those tent cities is going to become the norm for many, many, many of our cities throughout this country.”
She continued, “That is not what we want. That is not who we are.”
Turning her attention to the June elections she slammed the lack of opposition within the government saying that parties were “in lockstep along every step of the way with every measure that this government has introduced over the last number of years.”
Speaking of the upcoming Migration Pact due in April, Keogan said, “we have an opportunity to opt in or opt out” adding that she would be calling on the government to opt out.
Reffing to the state of play in the country she said Ireland needs to “get our own house in order.”
Senator Keogan said she hoped that TDs were “awake” to the realities of what’s going on in Ireland and that it should not always be left to the Seanad “to stand up to save the country from reckless government policies that this government is determined to introduce before they exit stage,”.