Varadkar rejects claims of ratcheting up Brexit fears

Fine Gael Leader Leo Varadkar has rejected claims that he has tried to frighten people into voting for his party by ratcheting up fears over Brexit.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said Fine Gael has never sought any awards for its role in the Brexit negotiations.

But he stressed that the process is not over yet and a good trade deal is essential.

Mr Varadkar said people will wake up tomorrow when the UK has departed the EU with no hard border and citizen rights are protected.

He said: "It didn't have to be that way. We could have been heading into something very different."

Mr Varadkar said to some extent Brexit is an election issue. "We are saying it's in Ireland's interest that the team who got you this far, should be allowed to finish this job."

He said Brexit will affect 200,000 people working in the export industry and also affect farmers and those in the fishing industry. Adding they are going to take a firm line to protect fishing.

"One of areas that is going to be essential for us is going to be fisheries. We don't see how fisheries can be disentangled from other trade issues."

Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael was the only party that produced detailed costings on the same day as its election manifesto, with a "whole section signed off by Pascal Donohoe on the risks of what could go wrong".

"We are providing for a budget surplus of over €3bn a year. That is the surplus that will cushion us in the case of a hard Brexit."

Speaking to the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, the Fine Gael leader said the new relationship between the EU and the UK must begin on "a firm and honest footing" and that means "a level playing field".

He said Ireland wants free trade with the UK "with no tariffs, no quotas, as little bureaucracy and as few checks as possible".

Autistic comment 'ignorant'

In relation to comments made by Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone about him being "autistic", which she later apologised for, Mr Varadkar told Morning Ireland she should not lose her job. He said her comment was "ignorant" and hurt a lot of people with autism.

He said Ms Noone is very sorry but he does not think it would be proportionate for her to lose her job over the incident. 

Mr Varadkar went on to say that a lot of people in Irish society do not understand autism and see it as a disorder.

"This points out how much more work we need to do to make society more autism-friendly," he said.

On forming a future government, Mr Varadkar said no one in his party was getting a guarantee from him as to whether they will be in Cabinet or what position they will hold if the party is returned to power.

However, he clarified that he wants to keep the Brexit team together with Simon Coveney and Helen McEntee.

He refused to be drawn on whether Eoghan Murphy and Simon Harris deserve to hold on to their positions as Ministers of Housing and Minister of Health respectively.

"Something I don't like about politics is when things get over-personalised," Mr Varadkar said.

He said everyone knows health and housing are a major challenge and said the two ministers were doing a very difficult job.