The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has said recent comments made by the former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about farmers were "wrong".

Leo Varadkar told the Path to Power podcast with Matt Cooper that farmers "still see themselves as the people who bring money and jobs into Ireland, where actually a lot of the time they bring costs on Ireland".

Varadkar also said: "People in rural Ireland are very quick to tell people in urban Ireland that ‘we're the real workers, we’re the ones paying all the bills, we’re the ones feeding the country".

"I think maybe we need to be a little bit more blunt in urban Ireland and say, actually that's not the case, we’re the ones paying all the bills and you’re the ones in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get," he added on the podcast.

Minister Martin Heydon has moved to quickly distance himself from the comments made by the former Taoiseach - who back in 2020 appointed him as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Speaking in the Seanad Minister Heydon said: "I completely disagree with Leo Varadkar's comments".

"Our urban dwellers love to go on holidays down the country over the summer.

"It is not only the tourism industry that has our vibrant rural communities. It is our fishers and our farmers and the work they do all year round that drives those communities on and that ensures that our countryside is well kept and that Ireland is a beautiful place to visit".

The minister also told senators that this "is as a result of our rural towns and villages being driven on because of the multiplier effect created by our farmers spending money locally and by their making money from producing beef and dairy products and exporting them".

Leo Varadkar

Varadkar's podcast comments have drawn sharp criticism from various quarters including from Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture and Food, Martin Kenny.

He said Varadkar was in essence "attacking Irish farmers and the people of rural Ireland" and described his comments as "outrageous".

“Instead of Leo and Fine Gael attacking rural Ireland they should be focusing on tackling the issue of underinvestment in the regions," Deputy Kenny said.

CAP

The Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture and Food also hit back at the former Taoiseach's statement in relation to subsidies.

“In relation to Leo’s comment about subsidies, I assume he is referring to Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) payments that farmers receive.

"CAP was established to provide food security across the EU and Leo should take note that Irish agri exports amounted to over €20 billion last year.