Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was branded an “airhead” and an “EU Toady” on the front page of the UK tabloid the Sun on Friday morning.
The insults are a response to Mr Varadkar’s comments about the impact of a potential “no-deal” Brexit on air travel next year.
“The situation at the moment is that the United Kingdom is part of the single European sky, and if they leave the EU they are not, and that does mean that if there was a no-deal, hard Brexit next March the planes would not fly and Britain would be an island in many ways and that is something that they need to think about,” the Taoiseach said in Kerry two days ago. (Irish Times, 20/07/18)
I have copied the full paragraph from the IT so that quotes are kept in context and I would say that I wouldn’t normally comment on the editorial of the Sun but for the reaction it seems to have provoked in Dublin. Perhaps the Sun has gained some gravitas since it’s interview with Trump although he claims it was all or, part, “fake news”. I think that the content of the front page article is admirably set off by a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow with the byline, ‘Gwns and Needles’ which the IT has thoughtfully included in it’s own article.
Why is it worth comment? Only because, despite all protestations, all explanations concerning context, to an outsider it does sound like a threat. Secondly, the tone of the briefing is reminiscent of similar threats emanating from Brussels. I will give the Taoiseach the benefit of the doubt because he must know that airspace, like borders, work in a number of ways and I would suggest that Ireland would suffer more in a playground ‘tit for tat’ argument than Britain. The basic premise is somewhat false. Non EU airlines operate in European airspace and European airlines, such as Aer Lingus, operate within British airspace. The issue eventually will be decided by a trade off between global airline groups based on market principles not ideology and it is the Taoiseach’s job to ground the current discussions in common sense and to ensure that pragmatism succeeds over polemics to the benefit of everyone.
Reference – Irish Times, 20/07/18, Conor Gallagher,https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/varadkar-called-airhead-by-sun-newspaper-over-flights-remark-1.