Taoiseach Leo Varadkar addressed the nation this evening and announced we'd have to wait a further two weeks before lockdown restrictions would be eased. On the whole, Varadkar lacked the West Wing-esque poise of his past Covid-19 speeches as he vaguely outlined a plan for the returning to the normal we used to enjoy.
As is his wont, Varadkar has sprinkled in a range of references from high and low culture into his coronavirus oratory. Some Heaney, some Churchill. He even included a line from Terminator 2 the last time he made a big speech. This evening, he unexpectedly dropped a Dermot Kennedy reference into his address when he said promised the people of Ireland the restrictions would son be eased and 'some summer night, we will see our friends again'.
The line paraphrases Kennedy's hit 'All My Friends' when the Rathcoole troubadour sang: 'Some summer night, I hope I see you again.'
Twitter picked right up on it.
Leo Varadkar is a Dermot Kennedy fan “Some summer night I know il see my friends again” 😂😂😂 up dermo
— Glen Chopper Collins (@glenncollins) May 1, 2020
Good to see Leo Varadkar is a @DermotKennedy fan,
Leo: "Some summer night, we will see our friends again".— Stephen (@Newman97_) May 1, 2020
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar not quoting Seamus Heaney, but Dermot Kennedy this time. ‘One summer night, I hope we can see our friends again,’ he says after confirming that meeting small groups of friends and family will be allowed from May 18
— Gabija Gataveckaitė (@gataveckaite) May 1, 2020
Did the Taoiseach just paraphrase Dermot Kennedy? 😂
"Some summer night, I hope I see you again" 🎶#coronavirus— Harry McCann (@TheHarryMcC) May 1, 2020
Varadkar said Ireland is not ready to be released from the lockdown just yet and said we need two more weeks to curve-flattening:
“When we come through this, we will come together as a nation and grieve for everyone who has died over the course of this emergency."
“I know for me the worst part has been the daily text message I receive at around 5 o’clock every evening of the number of deaths, and number of new cases. I yearn for the day it stops."
