Minister of Health Leo Varadkar, no small irony once Minister for Tourism, has declared war on the Irish Restaurant industry and in particular on Irish chefs.

Restaurant owners and chefs may have thought that with the enacting of last years legislation requiring them to list 14 different allergens on their menus that Minister Varadkar’s crusade would move on to another target. They were wrong, it’s 2015, he’s back and this time he intends to do real damage, so chefs…brace yourselves for the coming storm. Broad Hint of what’s going to be annoying the hell out of you this year: LeoVaradkar is planning on making you count every calorie on every dish you serve, we’ll get back to this later after we’ve vented our spleens a bit more. In any case, before I bring you this rant in full, I have my own professional obligation to fulfill and that’s to remind you that when we’re not foaming at the mouth in a fury about a hyper regulatory, publicity seeking, narcissist we’re in the business of Catering Recruitment and endeavour to offer the finest quality chef jobs, or at least the best ones we can get our hands on. Now, commercial interlude over, back to the meat of savaging this proposed stupidity.

#CalorieGate - Leo Varadkar's War On The Irish Hospitality Industry

Leo’s Own High Calorie Addiction

Although Minister Varadkar is a leading member of a cabinet which has shown little inclination to curb its own high calorie cravings, overspending for one – they fund an annual budget deficit of €6 Billion plus (through borrowings), while burdening us with a vertigo inducing debt to GDP ratio of 172% (in contrast, Greece’s debt to GDP ratio is a rather shapely 100%) he’s messianic in his belief that he’s the go to guy to cure the everyday slob, that’s us, of our addictions.

Leo’s Healthful, Unhelpful, Advice To Chefs – WORK HARDER

But before he gets there he has a cunning plan to make one of the hardest and most demanding jobs, ahem, harder. So who is in Leo’s sights this time? Yup, a favourite target of Leo’s, chefs.

But see he doesn’t really have it in for chefs, oh no, he’s just worried that you are making Irish people fat. Yeah, because this is a guy so divorced from everyday, common, reality (a frequent affliction affecting those who “hold office”) that he actually believes most Irish people dine out with the same frequency an overpaid government minister, like Leo, does. Thanks for your concern Minister, really you’re too kind, but charity begins at home and your department eats up close to 20% of annual government spending and between 70% – 90%, of that 20%, flows straight out the door on salaries and pensions. Now we know fixing that would be:

actual hard work
important
troublesome and
YOUR JOB!

Do Your Job Minister – Especially The Difficult Bits

We know this, but, respectfully, it looks like you don’t so can we perhaps suggest that you might busy yourself at least trying to get your own house in order before you come to the catering industry with a wrecking ball in a, sadly, successful attempt to keep yourself in the media spotlight.

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