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THE TAOISEACH effortlessly slapping down an academic report commissioned by St Vincent de Paul which claimed that in 2012 one in 11 working lone parents was living below the poverty line but that had jumped to one in five in 2017.

“Bet you feel pretty silly now, don’t you,” the Taoiseach proudly stated while pointing out only 20.7% of working single parents are in longterm poverty, down from 23.1% in 2013 according to CSO figures.

The exchange was raw, unfiltered Varadkar who, faced with what appeared initially like a damning indictment of successive Fine Gael governments, was somehow turned into a massive political victory.

Puffing his chest out with pride, the Fine Gael leader couldn’t help but revel in the egg-on-face moment St Vincent de Paul’s report had produced for the charity.

“Like, 1 in 5 working single parents are living in poverty, but that 2.4% reduction is all down to our incredible policies according to me,” the Taoiseach continued, on a roll.

Normally, it would be at a point like this a spokesperson would jump in and stop a politician from digging a hole for themselves and seeming out of touch but luckily for the Fine Gael press team there was no need to intervene.

“God, just listen to him go,” purred one Fine Gael spokesperson, “and to think, his political rivals probably thought boasting about only having 20.7% of working single parents and their children living in poverty in one of the richest countries in world would somehow cast Leo and the government in a bad light. What fucking idiots”.