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Leo Varadkar has said refugees who refuse to accept Irish culture after moving here should not be welcome.

The minister, who is half-Indian, stressed he does support migrants coming to Ireland, but admitted there are “enormous” cultural differences.

The Fine Gael TD was speaking after a series of horrific sexual assaults and rapes on women in the Germany city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve.

He described the attacks as “shocking and terrifying”.

Minister Varadkar said yesterday: “I don’t think it’s something we can turn a blind eye to or pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s also something that needs to be controlled. We need to accept and understand cultures are different.

“People will come to Ireland to work but will actually look down on our culture and look down on our freedoms and liberalisms and think they’re wrong.

“That’s why we need to make sure people who come to Ireland actually accept our culture and are properly integrated to it and people who can’t accept our culture and our standards and our freedoms well then they shouldn’t be welcome here.

(Image: Getty)

“I’m somebody who thinks immigration is beneficial. I’m in charge of a health service that is heavily influenced and dependent on migrants, doctors and nurses form overseas. So I’m somebody who believes it is good for our economy and society.”

The Government has pledged to take in 4,000 refugees fleeing conflict in war-torn Syria.

It’s understood the first group arrived last month.

More than 100 women were allegedly sexually assaulted on New Year’s Eve in Cologne as huge gangs of men roamed a square outside the city’s iconic cathedral and main railway station.

Descriptions of attackers being of “Arab or North African origin” and speaking foreign languages fuelled speculation they were among more than a million asylum seekers who arrived in Germany recently.

Speaking to Shane Coleman on Newstalk, Mr Varadkar added: “It’s frightening to think in a European city our sisters and friends could be subjected to what seems like a co-ordinated set of sexual assaults.

“To see what happened there is chilling."

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