Ireland's unemployment rate ‘cannot be blamed on the global economic situation,’ said FG spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, Dr Leo Varadkar this week. Dr Varadkar proceded to list eight well-known countries whose unemployment was less than Ireland’s.
‘Why can’t we be more like Denmark?’ he asked. ‘The Danes have 1.7% unemployment. We haven’t had that since the height of the Celtic Tiger, a year or two ago. What’s the matter with the Government? Ten years of growth and now this, a downturn?’
Dr Varadkar was elected to the Dáil last year, at the age of 28. Not yet a household name, Dr Varadkar made headlines in January when he invited all Dail deputies to his 29th birthday party in Dublin’s Odessa Club. ‘I meant to just invite Fine Gaelers,’ Dr Varadkar said at the time, ‘but I sent the text to everyone by mistake. Of course they were all welcome, but I made sure they knew I had made a mistake.’
Dr Varadkar raised his profile the previous September by criticising in strong terms then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's financial practices in the 1992 - 94 era.
Party leader Enda Kenny, who was elected to the Dáil at the age of 24, said Dr Varadkar’s comments provided Ireland with a ‘road map out of recession.’
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