“I thought she was Avril Lavigne” – Leo Varadkar on his skateboard-wielding attacker

Gardaí are investigating after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar had liquid thrown over him while filming a video in Dublin’s Merrion Square on Friday afternoon.

The substance, thought to be a smoothie, was flung over Varadkar by a woman in the city centre park at around 3pm and a video of the incident has since gone viral. In it, the culprit is seen holding a skateboard as she slowly approaches Leo and a film production team before tossing the liquid over him and then running away with her face largely visible to viewers.

Varadkar was questioned about the incident at last night’s press conference following Micheál Martin’s announcement that Dublin is moving to level 3 of Covid-19 restrictions. He said he was in Merrion Square to film a video explaining the new measures in the capital and quipped: “I saw someone coming towards me, I thought she was Avril Lavigne because of the skateboard and everything but unfortunately it wasn’t.”

He added that he had a spare suit to change into and “just got on with the day’s work” following the incident. Varadakar confirmed that he hadn’t spoken to Gardaí but said “I think they want to speak to me and that’ll be this week.”

The video of the incident was widely circulated on social media and was condemned by many people online, including former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, who said it was a “poxy thing to do.”

https://twitter.com/NoelRock/status/1306967632516714497

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