SHOUT & A BOUT..

Varadkar spars with hecklers over Nato discussion

-  FERGHAL BLANEY

LEO Varadkar was shouted down at the opening of a neutrality forum in yesterday morning. 

The Taoiseach was briefly stopped in his tracks but he swiftly moved on with his speech at Dublin Castle after slamming the protesters as “conspiracy theorists”.

Mr Varadkar defended Ireland’s involvement in the European military alliance – Permanent Structured Co-operation – which critics have described as the unofficial EU army.

He also said being associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was not a bad thing.

Mr Varadkar said: “Not being a Nato member makes it harder to defend ourselves in the unlikely event of an attack – and that is just a fact.

“Whether it makes us more or less debatable.

This was the third day of the forum, after sessions were held in Galway and Cork last Thursday and Friday.