Leo Varadkar’s received a lot of criticism for his White House speech

Leo Varadkar has received a lot of criticism for his White House speech.

The Taoiseach was in Washington DC attending the traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations with Donald Trump when he mentioned the resort that the President had opened in Co Clare. Varadkar said that when he was Minister for Tourism, he had helped Trump resolve a planning permission issue for the Doonbeg Golf Links resort.

"At the other end of the phone was Donald Trump saying to me that he bought this resort in Ireland, in Co Clare, this beautiful golf resort called Doonbeg but there was a problem. "Someone nearby was trying to build a wind farm and this could have a real impact on tourism and the beauty of the landscape. "So, I endeavoured to do what I could do about it and I rang the county council and inquired about the planning permission and subsequently the planning permission was declined and the wind farm was never built, thus the landscape being preserved."

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/974325577955074055 The resort was purchased by Trump in 2014. Clare County Council has said that they don't have any record of Varadkar inquiring about the course. They issued a statement yesterday regarding the Taoiseach's speech. It said that the planning application is available to view in full on their website and that: "There is no representation by Leo Varadkar, the then Minister for Tourism and Sport, or any Elected Member of this planning file." https://twitter.com/ClareCoCo/status/974397197423869953 Following Varadkar's comments, many took to social media to query why the then Minister for Tourism hadn't made his "interference" with the resort clear. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said that Varadkar should have "made that public earlier." https://twitter.com/EamonRyan/status/974337109627752452 Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin also said that the Taoiseach should have been more "transparent" about his plans. https://twitter.com/MichealMartinTD/status/974388181129834501 Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin also said that the intervention was "extraordinary" and "inappropriate." Taoiseach Varadkar is visiting the US ahead of St Patrick's Day this weekend.