Aibu to find this comment from Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar deeply offensive to all people with intellectual disabilities & their families. Absolutely appalling.

[55balloons]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41143480.html

This same man is trying to rush in draconian hate speech laws in Ireland..

Many disability groups in Ireland have quite rightly voiced their disgust & despair..

These vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities are suffering enough at the hands of our Prime Minister & his Fine Gael party through severe lack of funding. How dare he make fun.
Ireland as a nation is in a very bad way...

Somehow I can't imagine Simon Coveny or Mrs C making holy shows of themselves the way Leo and partner did.

@VaddaABeetch the hate speech bill is terrifying me. How can people not factually say a man is a man yet our Prime Minister can throw around comments like "slow learners"..
Obviously people are dismayed & angered by his comments, so many vulnerable groups have tweeted their disgust & disappointment. He has lost his party an awful lot of votes between this, the hate speech act & his woke agenda.
I will be open to hearing both Sinn Féin & Labours pitch when the time comes.. I don't think either could be much worse.

We've moved on quite a bit in our understanding of SEN since the 90s.

He should have kept up.

There are other phrases he could have used if he wished to criticise another party in 2023.

Is this offensive? Slow learners? I wouldn't have thought that was offensive.

I presume you prefer “remedial”?

& for the avoidance of doubt I am not a SF supporter.

God no. Couldn't imagine Akshata Richi, Jill Biden, Michelle Obama or Olena Zelensky (all Matt's equivalents as Prime Ministers partners) behaving so immaturely attending a huge state event.. Our tax payers money paid for Matt & Leo to represent us & they let our nation down miserably. Leo should have told Matt switch off his phone, (it was clearly laid out in the order of service) & Leo should not have been picking his nose walking up the aisle.

@Cam22 I don't understand, sorry.

Isn't it just saying that people who vote SF don't learn, ie from SF's awful past?

It was a well known phrase previously used in Ireland to describe children & adults who had additional needs who recieved zero additional help, had to remain in mainstream school with an hour a week with a remedial teacher (now known as an sna).

I mean are slow learners a protected group? Does it imply a learning disability? Isn't he just saying that voting SF is for those who aren't very bright?

Ohhhh thank you. Had no idea!!

Yep it was a horrible comment 25 years ago when the term was used more widely. It is a completely unacceptable term now especially for someone who's bringing in a hate speech bill to stamp out any comments like that to protect minority & vulnerable groups in society. Just like the ones he has targeted. Utter hypocrisy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.shannonside.ie/amp/news/roscommon-mother-condemns-taoiseach-over-slow-learners-comments-224201

This article really sums up the hurt & upset he has caused to the vulnerable in society & their loved ones.

Well yes, but…

targeted a very vulnerable sector of our society

I'm no fan of Varadkar - but how to do you make out he's done this 55Balloons?

He used a phrase that was used in a political context previously, and offered that context.

I think it's clumsy & ill-advised but you are magnifying it into something it isn't.

And if you are Irish, for the love of God, call him Taoiseach. Not Prime Minister.

And also, he's the head of Government. Not the head of State. (That's President Michael D Higgins).

@EarringsandLipstick what do you think of Michael Healy Rae's Airy Fairy comment? This was very widely used in Ireland too.. Leo slammed it as homophobic immediately as the video above shows... Slow learners is worse.

Perhaps.

But that does NOT change the fact Varadkar was making a deliberately political message that has zero relevancy to learning disabilities.

If he'd used the word "retard", you would absolutely have a point.

There's a political relevancy in Varadkar using Mallon's well known phrase that wouldn't be there if he'd used some other term. In effect, Varadkar is legitimising his criticism of Provisional Sinn Féin’s historical aversion towards democratic norms. That's the point of his paraphrasing Mallon.

And Mallon's phrase was not related to learning disabilities either. Then or now.

Additionally, intent is an important consideration that has to be factored in here alongside context.

You're saying Varadkar's wording is so offensive to you that you couldn't vote for them.

Yet you're open to Provisional Sinn Féin who continue to defend their own terrorism, post-1998 violence and who your own police force agrees is still controlled by the Provisional Army Council?

That doesn't really compute. 🤷‍♂️

I hope the FG party oust him as leader. It's one thing after another with him and he hasn't learnt anything from them, maybe he's the slow learner. Even being said 25 years ago doesn't stop it being offensive. I don't know how his family can tolerate him after what happened to his granny.

I'll listen to their pitch along with labour. As I said up thread what I want back is my single sex spaces for my daughters & I, women only changing rooms, prisons & toilets that a man can't access just because he "thinks" he's a woman.. A country where we are free to state the facts that if you are born a man you are in fact male & for stating the obvious you're not risking imprisonment when Leo gets the hate speech bill passed.

My point is you take massive offence to Varadkar paraphrasing Mallon, but you appear to not see the sheer irony in you not taking offence at PSF's rhetoric plus actions.

That doesn't really make sense, especially as Provisional Sinn Féin's words and actions over the last 25 years is way, way worse than Varadkar paraphrasing Mallon.

I probably shouldn't even be amazed at this contradiction.

@DownNative I'm not getting into a political discussion on something I know nothing about. My thread was condemning Leo's comments, I don't care what context he used it in.
This was the man outraged at Michael Healy Rae's "Airy Fairy" comment...
Look at the distress his horrible comment has caused that poor mother in Roscommon. It's unacceptable & Simon Coveney needs take over ASAP.

You don't really need to know any great detail. But don't you think you need to first educate yourself on the last twenty-five years of Provisional Sinn Féin behaviour? Never mind before that.

I mean, Provisional Sinn Féin is a party in your own country (ROI) who you're thinking of voting for. 🧐

If causing distress to others through words distresses you to the point a party loses your vote....shouldn't a party that's done far worse than that automatically lose your vote? Voting for them does distress people.

If Varadkar's wording offends you, I can tell you there's worse than that with Provisional Sinn Féin! It's on the extreme end of the scale where they make Varadkar's wording look positively tame.

Your position is very contradictory, to be quite honest.....

That's different; I'm neither a fan of MHR but there was pejorative intent there.

The context of the 'slow learners' is specific & in no way 'targeting' those with disabilities as you wildly suggested. It's clumsy but your hyperbole is nonsensical.

@55balloons

Are you going to answer by question about how the comment is 'targeting a vulnerable group'? How has he done this, specifically?