Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said Leo Varadkar ’s handling of a confidential document was “inappropriate” but believes he didn’t break any law.
Mr Martin appeared to back the Fine Gael leader telling reporters that “we can all learn from previous experiences.”
Leo Varadkar has denied that he acted unlawfully by leaking the agreement reached with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to the then President of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) and his friend - Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail.
But admitted that “it was not best practice” to send the document informally to the rival group.
Mr Martin said today that he had confidence in the Tanáiste.
He said: “I think the Tanáiste himself has acknowledged that this was not best practice and that he regrets the manner in which the document was forwarded to the President of the NAGP and I also believe it was an inappropriate way to deal with a document of this kind.
“I don’t believe any law was broken in relation to this and I think yes in terms of future practices lessons can be learned from this and in life we all can learn from previous experiences.”
The Taoiseach said the agreement should have been public knowledge much earlier and said there was no financial gain by sending the document to the NAGP.
He said commitments were made that the NAGP would be updated over the agreement “but it was the manner in which this happened subsequently is inappropriate.”
When asked by the Irish Mirror if he asked the Tanáiste over the weekend whether he had sent other confidential documents in an informal manner, Mr Martin said he didn’t get into a “cross examination.”
He said Mr Varadkar would answer all questions in the Dáil tomorrow.
