Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has strongly rejected a suggestion by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin that he deliberately timed the general election to coincide with Brexit in order to maximize the Fine Gael vote. “When you think about this, he [Mr Varadkar] had planned this election and the date a way back,” Mr Martin said. “It’s very clear now that it was all choreographed and he thought he would get re-elected on the wave of Brexit Day. ”But Mr Varadkar strongly rejected Mr Martin’s comments when he addressed some 250 Fine Gael supporters at a rally in Ballincollig attended by the party’s ten candidates seeking election in the five Cork constituencies on Friday. The person who decided the longevity of this Dáil and this Government, that it would be linked to Brexit and would be linked to events in another country, was Micheál Martin himself,” Mr Varadkar said.

Source: The Irish Times February 01, 2020 10:41 UTC