TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has defended his use of a quote from the movie Mean Girls during a speech where he outlined plans to ease Covid-19 restrictions, describing the criticism levelled at him as “snobbish”.
Asked about the criticism on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme this evening, Varadkar said: “I think any quote is appropriate if it’s appropriate in its context, whether it was written in a movie or by a poet. “There are nearly 2,000 people who have died on this island as a consequence of Covid and they have families who are grieving. There are 100,000 people out of work and I have used quotes that I identified with, that explains some of the feelings they are having and the darkness around that.”
“And also, we see the R0 number stay below 1. That’s despite the fact that we’ve done Phase 1 easing and we’ve done Phase 2 easing… and even still the positivity rate is falling and the R0 number is still below 1, so that gives me the confidence to say we can move to Phase 3. It also recommended that the Government’s official advice to avoid all non-essential travel be lifted by that date.