LAST UPDATE | 15 Sep 2023

TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has welcomed what he characterised as a shift in the Social Democrats’ position on Fine Gael and said it is positive that the party is open to working with them after the next election.

Varadkar reiterated today that he will lead Fine Gael into the next general election and said that Fine Gael being out of office would “not be good for Ireland”.

Speaking to reporters at the party’s annual think-in in Limerick, Varadkar said he was pleased to hear Social Democrats’ leader Holly Cairns say yesterday that she would be willing to work with any party after the next general election.

“Under the previous leadership with the Social Democrats, both in 2016 and 2020 they wouldn’t really talk to us, so I think it is welcome that she’s at least open to the conversation after the election,” Varadkar said.

He also responded to comments made by Cairns’ yesterday in which she said the Taoiseach and government ministers are out of touch and do not understand the struggles facing ordinary people because of their large salaries.

Cairns said: “If you’re on a minister’s wage or TD’s wage or a Taoiseach’s wage, there is no housing crisis, there is no waiting lists, you can pay for everything.”

The Taoiseach said today: “I think she referred to all TDs so if that’s what she said then she’s saying that she feels she is out of touch and that’s her view and that’s fine.

“Look, politicians earn good wages.

“Most politicians that I know are very much in touch with their constituency, with their communities. We wouldn’t get elected, we certainly wouldn’t get reelected so many times in our constituencies if we didn’t understand the problems or the challenges that our constituents face.”

Varadkar added that he has been taking a voluntary pay cut since 2007 and that he now earns approximately €96,000 after tax and pension contributions.

Commenting on how some politicians publish what pay cuts they are taking, he added: “I know there are other politicians who sign the form and post it on the Internet.

“I’ve never done that. I think it’s a bit trashy, quite frankly. But I’ve been handing back a portion of my salary, about 10% of my salary for nearly 16 years now.”

The next election

In relation to the next election, the Taoiseach said he has no desire to be in opposition and the idea that Fine Gael will be in opposition is “a load of rubbish”.

“Once you’re out, you can be out for a long time,” he said.

“This is a party that wants to be in government. Unlike many people in politics, we actually tried to form governments and on this occasion we stepped into the breach. Let’s not forget what happened after the last election,” Varadkar said.

He said Sinn Féin made “no serious efforts to form a left wing coalition with left wing parties” and added “they didn’t really want it.”

He continued: “They then tried to bully Fianna Fáil into coalition with them. That didn’t work and we stepped into the breach and we formed a coalition with Fianna Fáil and the Greens that nobody predicted would happen and that’s lasting, and it’s working well.”

“When it comes to a general election, we want to gain seats. We didn’t do as well in the last election as we hoped – or did much worse than we hoped or expected.

“I think we can gain seats in the next election, both because I believe our first-preference vote can go up and we can get a better profile of transfers from our coalition partners, so that can be achieved.”

He also reiterated his plans to lead Fine Gael into the next election and said he is “looking forward to that challenge”.

“It will be my fifth general election and putting myself before my position in Dublin West and take nothing for granted but hopefully they elect me to the next Dáil,” he said.