Leo Varadkar under fire no matter what

Just what has gotten people so hot under the collar about his official trip to Canada?

There was George Hook, the veteran broadcaster, getting very touchy about the Taoiseach’s absence over the past few days.

On his radio show, Hook said he was “fed up” hearing about Varadkar being gay after accusing the Taoiseach of becoming a PR “creation”.

He criticised him for attending a gay pride parade in Canada, and took issue with Varadkar’s visit after speaking about a situation in Dublin where tents belonging to homeless men were taken.

“I don’t want to hear he’s gay,” said Hook. “I don’t want to hear he’s in love. I don’t want to hear his boyfriend has gone to America. I think the Taoiseach is increasingly becoming a public relations creation rather than a leader of a country that actually faces some crises.

“I think he should be attending a homeless march, a balancing the budget march and a security march, so that we would actually have some Government.”

Now, most rantings from the former rugby pundit would go unnoticed from all bar the people who listen to his show, but this one has caught fire, because it actually drew a response from our leader via Twitter.

“@ghook George. Not swanning around Canada. 4 meetings & 4 public events today. Business. Tourism. Media. Irish community. Jobs. Trade,” the Taoiseach tweeted.

Now, Hook is perfectly entitled to his view, but is it really OK that the Taoiseach felt the need to respond to his rantings? The need to respond does lend some mcredence to the suggestion that it is all about style as opposed to substance.

In Varadkar’s defence, foreign trips of this sort are part and parcel of life as Taoiseach, and the Government has a designated member to take charge of the housing problem in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.

Representing Ireland at international level is one of the primary duties of being Taoiseach and criticising him for being abroad was opportunistic.

Responding to Hook has only galvanised and justified his criticisms in his head.

Varadkar has also drawn the ire of so-called pro-lifers, who took issue with him being “led” by Mr Trudeau on the issue of abortion.

Wendy Grace, a well-known conservative advocate, penned a piece which said she used to admire Mr Varadkar and his trait of speaking his mind.

“But in everything he does and says these days he seems to cosy up to the media and other people whom he thinks will keep him in power,” she wrote in the Irish Independent. “How ironic.

"You get to the top because you were independent-minded, and you try to stay on top bym acting as a stooge.”

Lashing at his supposed failures, she referenced her own recent experience of giving birth.

“Our Taoiseach used to have the capacity to champion people like that,” she said. “Now he engages in gimmickry like exchanging socks and uttering platitudes to people with no regard for the right to life of babies in the womb. If this goes on, I hope my boy goes into politics some day and really socks it to him.”

The truth of it is that Mr Trudeau was asked about his view on abortion by Fiach Kelly of the Irish Times at a press conference and he responded saying that giving women a choice is in his view a fundamental human right.

Because Varadkar didn’t object, publicly anyway, he is accused of abandoning

unborn children of Ireland.

Again the truth was a casualty here.

He, as a leader who is known to be conservative, is committed to holding a referendum on the eighth amendment, which is a Programme for Government commitment. He is sticking to a deal made last year.

As Taoiseach, you get blamed for everything and certainly there is alot wrong with how Ireland is run.

Leaders are there to be held to account and to be criticised when they fall down on the job. But the nature of the attacks on Varadkar in recent days have been bizarre, to say the least.

Trying to lead by courting the media is a dangerous game which never works long term. Yet the last few days have shown that, no matter what he does, he will annoy someone, even when he has done nothing.