Leo Varadkar says immigration to Ireland grew ‘too fast’ on trip to US

During a visit to the US last week, Mr Varadkar spoke to University of Notre Dame’s college newspaper The Observer, ahead of holding a public discussion at the university’s centre for international studies.

Today’s News in 90 seconds – 27th September 2024

He said migration benefited the economy and warned against the rise of populism and prejudice against migrants, but said the level of immigration to Ireland is increasing too quickly.

“The majority of people think that the numbers have been too high in recent years, and they’re right,” he said.

“A country of five million people seeing its population rise by 2pc a year, which is what’s happening at the moment, is too fast.”

Mr Varadkar’s comment came as Taoiseach Simon Harris drew criticism for linking the level of homelessness with the rate of immigration in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Mr Harris said: “People understand the fact that homelessness numbers are heavily impacted by the fact we are seeing many…