Sammy Wilson: Varadkar's Behaviour 'Despicable, Low And Rotten'

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has branded the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar's behaviour "despicable, low and rotten" for his reference to violence at the Northern Ireland border during the Troubles, in a statement titled 'How much lower can vile Varadkar stoop?'

His scathing attack comes as the Taoiseach appeared before a summit of EU leaders on Wednesday evening and produced a copy of that day's edition of the Irish Times, which displayed a picture of an IRA bomb attack on the Newry Customs Office in 1972.

Nine people were killed and six injured in the attack when a bomb exploded prematurely on August 22.

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said he used the copy of the newspaper to demonstrate "how far we have come in 30 years, from violence to peace".

In his statement Mr Wilson said the Taoiseach had "lost any sense of self control in relation to the decision of the UK to leave the EU".

"He is not so stupid as to be unaware of the impact it can have especially given the record of the republicans over the summer," the East Antrim MP added.

The Foreign Minister for the Republic of Ireland, Simon Coveney, has since rejected claims that the Taoiseach was "scaremongering".

Mr Coveney said: "We are trying to protect a very precious peace and normality on the island of Ireland.

"If you speak to families living in the border area they will talk in very emotive terms about their fears of the re-emergence of that border infrastructure and it's important to be honest about that.

"It certainly doesn't suit people who advocate for Brexit because this is very awkward and difficult to deal with but it's the truth."

In his wide-ranging attack, Mr Wilson also condemned a number of previous points raised by the Taoiseach, including the effect Brexit will have on Britain's energy supply and ability to use Irish aerospace.

"His latest use of a victim of the IRA who was killed when the republican terrorists blew up a border post scrapes the bottom of the very deep barrel of threats, deception and rhetoric which he has dipped to in order to persuade ignorant heads of EU states that the EU must insist in detaching NI from the UK in any Brexit deal," Mr Wilson said.

"First of all he knows just how some of the republican madmen in NI will react to the false fears he is stirring up about barriers along the border. Indeed he knows that they will use them to influence stupid and easily led young people to join their ranks."

The office of Mr Varadkar has not issued a comment on Mr Wilson's claims.



(JG)