Leo Varadkar has slammed the leaking of the Mother & Baby Homes report that most likely came from the Cabinet he is a leading member of.
It comes following a controversy last year he was at the centre of when he leaked a confidential Government document on GP contracts to a doctor friend of his.
The Tánaiste was one of a limited number of senior Government ministers that were given a copy of the sensitive 3,000 word Mother & Baby Homes report to read over Christmas.
One of the main shocking findings was that 9,000 out of 56,000 babies at the homes died.
Victims and survivors were understandably hurt and upset when they had to read this through a leak in the Sunday Independent yesterday.
There was a memo on the official report given to a wider group last Friday, including other ministers and senior Government officials such as various Secretaries General.
But Mr Varadkar said that discussions yesterday with Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, suggest that the leak came from someone who had the full report.
Mr Varadkar is now calling for an official probe into how this leak came about.
He told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne Show: “I would support an investigation, absolutely.
“They (the victims and survivors) are waiting five years for this report and I think it was very disrespectful that elements of it were leaked to a Sunday paper.
“These are the people who deserve to see this report before everyone else.”
