Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I answered a similar question on direct provision earlier. On the events we have seen take place in the United States, as I stated, we have witnessed a real absence of moral leadership from the top in the United States. We should have had words of unity, comfort and reconciliation, but we did not get them and that is absolutely wrong. I am sure that if those events had happened in this country or another country, we would have seen a much better response from the political leadership of this country or the other country.

Racism has many facets. The history of racism in the United States is a very different one from ours. It is rooted in a history of slavery which has not yet been overcome. In Ireland, our experience of building a multi-racial society is quite different and has different characteristics. I touched on them in my opening statement.

The Deputy has spoken and preached about divide and rule and divisiveness, but almost all of his politics is divisive and populist. It is all about setting up ideas about elites versus the masses, bosses against the others, conspiracies, tearing people down and setting people apart. It is anger and rage. What he does is the flip side. To me, the far right and the far left are not very different. They are the same kind of thing. It is about a conspiracy of elites against the people and simple answers to complex problems. The Deputy is not too different, really.

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