Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has denied he had a "free meal" with friends at a Kylie Minogue concert in Dublin earlier this week, after he was accused in a social media post of failing to tip waiting staff who served him complimentary food at the gig.
Mr Varadkar attended the 3Arena concert with a group of friends on Monday evening, where he met the pop singer.
On Tuesday evening, Mr Varadkar posted on his social media channels that he had “been made aware of a post on social media saying I had a free meal at a concert the other night”.
I've been made aware of a post on social media saying I had a free meal at a concert the other night. This is not true. There was no meal, we only had drinks and I paid. I have the receipt to prove it too.
— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) December 4, 2018
“This is not true,” he said. “There was no meal, we only had drinks and I paid. I have the receipt to prove it too.”
The Taoiseach’s spokesman also said there were some “genuinely fake posts on social media”.
It is understood the post that riled Mr Varadkar claimed the Taoiseach’s party, along with two accompanying plain-clothes gardaí, were served a complimentary meal and drinks at the 3Arena but did not tip the waiting staff.
Opposition politicians criticised Mr Varadkar for making an issue of the post, with Fianna Fáil’s Lorraine Clifford-Lee saying he should be “worrying less about your Kylie concert . . . and more about the desperate housing situation in this country at present”.
Labour Party Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that at a time when the "news is full of debate about homelessness and educational inequality . . . this is from our Taoiseach".