Táinaiste Leo Varadkar has dubbed his own lockdown “absolutely bonkers” and “draconian,” and called for “a new normal” to help society “build back better.”
Speaking during a committee meeting on “Online Content Moderation,” Varadkar explained all the ways in which lockdown infringed on civil liberties in an “unprecedented” way – but then proceeded to defend the move and describe it as “necessary.”
https://twitter.com/Ben_Scallan/status/1399753238279249922
“If the Deputy had told me two years ago that we would live in a country where it was illegal to leave or enter the State for non-essential reasons, that one could not have visitors to one’s house or could not meet outside with more than 15 people, I would have thought he was absolutely bonkers,” Varadkar said.
“What has happened in the past year or two is unprecedented. We overuse that term but what has happened in the past year really is unprecedented.”
Varadkar went on to express his desire to move towards a “new normal” and “build back better”, saying that while he would like to end lockdown, it is “necessary” to extend it.
“We want to go to a new normal and build back better, as people say, but one thing I definitely do not want to keep on the Statute Book for any longer than is necessary is this draconian legislation. Unfortunately, it is still necessary. We are not out of the woods yet and that is why we will have to extend it.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the Tánaiste said that he was “bothered” by the fact that people had not spoken out more in favour of civil liberties during the pandemic.
“There will be proper debate on that in the Dáil and I encourage Deputies to speak freely on this issue,” he said.
“They should not feel that they are against public health or something if they raise these concerns. Civil liberties matter. Concerns about civil liberties have almost disappeared in the past year or so and that bothers me.”
Comment
Sorry now: What?
Stop and think for a minute about what this man is actually saying: he’s apparently “bothered” by the fact that people aren’t more concerned about civil liberties – liberties that he took away, and has no plans to give back in the near future. Apparently, to Leo, it’s deeply disturbing that nobody has tried to stop him from implementing what he calls “draconian” legislation – that’s his word, not mine – and he wants to know why people didn’t do more to stop him.
This is like an active burglar expressing his serious concern that the police haven’t been able to stop him from robbing houses (the robbed goods in this case being the Irish economy and our most fundamental constitutional rights). It’s gaslighting of the highest order.
The galling nature of this statement aside, however, it also reveals a lot about people like Leo Varadkar’s vision for this country.
To Leo, the real travesty is that people haven’t been speaking out against the draconian laws – but the laws themselves are absolutely justified and acceptable, and he has no intention of repealing them soon. In his perfect world, we’d all be talking about how terrible the lockdown is, and have a big lively national debate on the subject, but ultimately remain under the State’s jackboot while doing nothing about it.
If you think about it, what Leo is really lamenting here is not the loss of democracy, but the loss of the appearance of democracy. It looks bad to have the entire government, the so-called Sinn Féin opposition (who incidentally oppose nothing), the media, the NGOs and the “public health experts” all unified in lockstep against people’s most fundamental freedoms. It feels sketchy, it gives off whiffs of authoritarianism.
The voting from the debate on extending emergency covid powers until November in the Seanad today.
In typical fashion, Sinn Féin once again failed to put up any kind of opposition to government oppression by having all of their senators abstain. #COVID19ireland pic.twitter.com/9R3WRsuq3a— JRD (@JRD0000) May 24, 2021
But rather than restoring those freedoms, Leo Varadkar would prefer that the carefully constructed facade of debate would be maintained. We have to keep up the illusion that we have a free debate and alternative viewpoints in this country – even though nothing could be further from the truth – and then when people speak out we can just ignore them anyway and do what we always planned to do from the start. It’s a great arrangement for a control-freak politician if you can get away with it.
Leaders like Leo Varadkar think that if they remain polite and outwardly “proper” while implementing the most heavy-handed and outrageous policies imaginable, that will somehow nullify the tyranny of what they’re doing. They think that if they say “I understand how difficult this is,” while subjecting you to that difficulty deliberately despite your protests, that you’ll forgive them for being understanding. It’s a perfect example of an iron fist in a velvet glove.
The Irish government, over the past year, have proven themselves to be instinctive authoritarians, despite their boasts about being such laid back “centrist liberals” (whatever that means). With the longest and most severe lockdown in all of the EU, we can all see our leaders clearly for what they are, and no “relatable” TikTok video from Simon Harris or hollow words of sympathy will change that.