Simon Harris has said Tanáiste Leo Varadkar’s apology over leaking a confidential document is “good enough” for him.
The Minister for Higher Education’s comments come after it has emerged that he has voluntarily given a written statement to gardai on the matter as he was Minister for Health at the time of the leak.
Mr Varadkar said he has made contact through his solicitor to gardai to offer them assistance in their inquiries after it emerged specialist gardai are assessing a complaint made over the Tanáiste’s leaking of a €210 million GP contract to the head of rival doctor group.
Mr Varadkar in a statement said he has been advised that he “committed no offence.”
Speaking yesterday to Clare FM, Minister Simon Harris said: “What happened should not have happened, the Tánaiste apologised for it happening, and that’s good enough for me.
“While it shouldn’t have been disseminated in the way that it was, I’m pretty confident that all of the salient information was in the public domain.
“The Gardaí have a job to do and when somebody makes a complaint it is important that the Gardaí do that job. Obviously, the Tánaiste will have to cooperate with that in any way too."
Mr Harris, who was health minister at the time of the leak, is not under investigation.
He was not involved in leaking the contract and was unaware that Mr Varadkar sent the document to the former National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) Dr Maitiu O Tuathail.
Last year, Mr Varadkar admitted that he gave a copy of a contract negotiated between the then government and the Irish Medical Organisation to rival GP group, the NAGP.
The Tanáiste apologised in the Dáil and has denied he breached the Official Secrets Act.
