FORMER TAOISEACH LEO Varadkar has said he probably “went too far” in his comments on urban Ireland subsidising rural Ireland.

The comments, which he made on Matt Cooper’s Path to Power podcast over the weekend, have attracted heavy criticism.

On the podcast, Varadkar said there’s a perception in rural Ireland that people living there are the “real workers” who are “paying all the bills” – but it is urban Ireland who do so.

“People in rural Ireland are very quick to tell people in urban Ireland that ‘we’re the real workers, we’re the ones paying all the bills, we’re the ones feeding the country’,” he said.

“I think we maybe need to be a little bit more blunt in urban Ireland and say actually, that’s not the case. We’re the ones paying all the bills and you’re the ones in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get.

“Maybe we need to sit around the table and have an honest discussion about that kind of stuff.”

The comments have irked many in the farming community, as well as many within Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Today, Varadkar confirmed to The Journal that he stands over some of his comments, and that many of the points he made on the podcast are “still valid”, such as that the vast majority of tax is paid in urban Ireland and 80% of food is now imported into Ireland, which he said many people are not aware of. 

However, he said he “went too far” and over-stated his case on certain other points, adding that he definitely did not set out to be divisive or to offend anyone. 

“And I apologise for that,” Varadkar said. 

He went on to say that he had broken his own rule of not commenting on “hot domestic political issues”, which he said is a rule that has served him well over the last two years. 

Tánaiste Simon Harris has distanced himself from Varadkar’s hot take, telling a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting this evening that he’s never believed in dividing people by where they live or the job they do.

“Whether someone lives in rural Ireland or urban Ireland, whether they are a farmer, self-employed, or an employee – what matters are their values and their contributions,” he said.

He added that people in rural Ireland “keep their side of the social contract”.

“They work hard, contribute, and play their part in their communities, and they want to know that their government has their back.”