TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said he does not consider himself to be woke as he rejected an assertion that the Government’s recent defeats in the referendums on family and care were due to a rejection of “woke” issues.
It comes after Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea said that his party “needs to get back to basics” and “stop playing to the woke gallery” in a strongly-worded tweet last week.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday during engagements in Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day, Varadkar said: “No, I think people considered the proposition that was put to them and listened to the arguments and decided to vote against it.
“I wouldn’t read anything else into it.”
Asked if he considered himself to be woke, Varadkar added: “I don’t think so, but I’ve never really been fully sure what woke and anti-woke means.
“People who say they’re anti-woke just seem to be against whatever new idea or new concept is popular at the time – but ‘no’ is the short answer,” he said.
Earlier this week, Varadkar described himself as a “reformer” as he outlined his record in Government, highlighting what he described as “significant reforms” around pay, statutory sick pay, the living wage and access to pensions.
He made the comments after being asked if he agreed with Joe Kennedy III’s assessment that Varadkar was a “radical” due to being in Government when Ireland passed referenda on the expansion of marriage equality to same-sex partnerships and removing restrictions on abortion from the constitution.
However, the Taoiseach said he did not see himself as a “radical”.
The Government has been criticised by some TDs, including Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan, for not publishing the advice of the Attorney General in relation to the referendums.
The day before voters went to the polls, The Ditch published an article containing the leaked advice from Rossa Fanning on the proposed care amendment to Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
Varadkar said that subsequent commentary “misrepresented” what the advice said. Fanning is also in Washington DC with the Taoiseach.
Asked if he believed the attorney general’s advice should be published by the Government in future, Varadkar said: “Well, we haven’t had a chance to discuss that.
“We’ve been at the same events but we need to have a proper sit-down discussion at some stage. We’ll do that as soon as we can.”
The use of the phrase “strive to support” in the care referendum was also heavily criticised as being too weak by several campaigners.
Varadkar added: “Advice is written in a particular way. Advice for publication is written in a different way too.
“It’s our long-standing policy not to publish the advice of the attorney general but I think if people see the leak, they’ll see that the term strive was a strong term, that it was judicial.
“There was concern in some Government departments that it would leave the State open to claims and open to cases but we thought that was a risk worth taking to put that right in the constitution but people decided not to do that.
“In relation to the issue of durable relationships you know, you’ll never have an attorney general who will ever advise that any language is not without some degree of risk and I think that was kind of misrepresented really.”
With reporting from Press Association
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