Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted he can be “too blunt” as he acknowledged his comments indicating that the grass is not always greener abroad for Irish emigrants could have been phrased better.
However, the Fine Gael leader insisted that he stood by the point he was making when he was asked about young people moving abroad.
The new Taoiseach has regularly found himself in hot water with the public over straight-shooting comments.
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In November, Mr Varadkar angered young emigrants when he suggested that “sometimes the grass looks greener” than it is when people decide to move abroad.
“When people actually get into the reality of going abroad, if you are going to another busy city or successful country, you will see a lot of the same problems,” he told Newstalk.
“You are not going to find rents are lower in New York or it is easier to buy a house in Sydney.”
In September, Mr Varadkar acknowledged that he “tends to answer questions rather than evade them” and that he is “probably more likely to give you an honest answer than a line from an official that's designed to offend nobody'.
During his Christmas roundtable interview with political correspondents last week, the Taoiseach acknowledged that he can be too blunt.
“That is something I will be more careful with, quite frankly,” he said.
"It's probably in my nature and my personality to give a straight answer to a straight question.
"But tone is important. Often it's important not just what you say, but how you say it.
"There have been examples in the past – and I don't want to go through them, I'm sure you'll find them – where I would have said things that are factually true, but sometimes the way you say them can come across wrong or can come across as though you don't understand or you don't care.
"That is something I need to be more careful about in the future.
"I intend to be. I won't be perfect."
When asked by the Irish Mirror if he was thinking of any particular politicians or political parties when he mentioned politicians “evading questions”, Mr Varadkar insisted that he was not and that it was a “general” comment.
The Taoiseach was also asked if he regretted his comments about the “grass looking greener” abroad.
He insisted that he stood by the crux of the argument but acknowledged he could have phrased his comments better.
“People who travel abroad or go abroad to live do so for all sorts of different reasons,” he said.
“I think it was a fair point to point out that, at least for the last three years, more Irish citizens have come home than have left.
“That is a fact. It's not my opinion.
“Huge numbers of EU citizens choose to come to Ireland. Not because the rents are lower or because the housing situation is so good, far from it.
“But because this is a good country to live in. There are very good economic opportunities here as well.
“I think that's the point I was making. Perhaps the words weren't the right ones, but that was the point I was making.”
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