His supporters argue this criticism of him is unfair and he and the Government were right to reject the advice as the country was not prepared for Level 5 at that point.

However, knowing what we know now, his criticism of chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, and the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Claire Byrne’s TV show on October 5 rings hollow.

Far from the advice being “not thought through” it is Varadkar’s criticisms which now appear misguided, over the top, and ill-judged.

Whatever about legitimate criticisms that those on Nphet had sought to “bounce” the Government that weekend into moving the country to level 5, the tone of the sharp attacks on Dr Holohan and his colleagues cut deepest.

Defending the Government's decision not to accept Nphet's advice, the Tánaiste said that while Nphet is made up of experts in health, none of them would have faced "being on the pandemic unemployment payment".  

He argued that should level 5 be introduced, "none of them would have to tell somebody they were losing their job".

Within minutes of him saying it, several Nphet sources expressed their “outrage” and “shock” at what they heard.

For days, Varadkar’s comments dominated the political agenda with a noticeable gulf emerging between Fianna Fáil and his own party colleagues.

The following morning, European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne said he “disagreed” with the Tánaiste’s comments about Dr Holohan and Nphet.

Two days later in the Dáil, Mr Varadkar’s comments were again under the spotlight after it emerged Dr Holohan had flagged his concerns numerous times to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly over the previous weekend ahead of the shock Level 5 recommendation.

“Nobody in government had any indication that consideration was being given to recommending a move to level 5 until Sunday. This was confirmed by the CMO at last night's press conference. It was a shock; it did come out of the blue. We were not prepared for it, nor was the country,” he said.

“What do I mean by 'out of the blue'? The recommendation came on Sunday, only three days after Nphet had said in writing that it did not strongly support a move to level 3 nationally at that time,” he said.

“To clarify and to be very clear, the Taoiseach, the leader of the Green Party and I were informed on Saturday that a meeting of Nphet had been called for Sunday. 

"There was no suggestion, not even an inkling, that level 5 was being contemplated. Had we known that, we would have sought an urgent briefing that night. That is what could, and should, have happened. 

"The first indication I had that level 5 was being considered came on Sunday evening after the Nphet meeting had taken place. I received confirmation in writing at 8.30pm, setting out the recommendations and the reasons for them. For some ministers, the first they heard of this was on the news,” he said.

“In relation to the chief medical officer, I did not say a bad word about him,” he said to considerable interruptions in the chamber. 

His defence was shaky and TDs were not buying it

“He is somebody I respect immensely and someone I worked with very closely on difficult issues, such as Portlaoise and CervicalCheck, when the Opposition was taking lumps out of him, by the way,” he said of Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

Phonecalls and meetings ensued in the days following in a bid to patch things up but on both sides, the episodes left visible scars and created a distinct element of distrust.

Such wounds have yet to fully heal.

However, notwithstanding the decision of the Government to reject the Nphet advice that weekend, the medics did not resile from that advice.

Indeed, they doubled down on their verdict that swift and decisive action was needed as soon as possible.

By last weekend, with every kind of metric heading in the wrong direction, emergency meetings were convened between the Government and the medics.

The latest letter from Nphet sent last Thursday was adamant a lockdown for six weeks was needed.

“There has been a further significant deterioration in all key indicators of disease transmission and severity and there is a widespread community transmission across the country,” the letter from Dr Holohan said.

Sources have said Mr Varadkar during meetings was swayed by the intervention of Prof Philip Nolan and the updated medical advice that he and Taoiseach Micheál Martin and their senior ministers were confronted with on Saturday.

“He quickly became a strong advocate of the Level 5 option, but he did press the doctors for what a marker of success looks like. The six weeks' limit was a key demand from Nphet from the start and he felt he had to back it,” said a source familiar with the discussions.

Varadkar’s volteface in the space of two weeks was remarkable but was key in quelling the disquiet among some of his chief lieutenants Simon Coveney, Paschal Donohoe and Heather Humphreys over the move to Level 5 for six weeks.

Mr Donohoe, in particular, was said to be “unconvinced” by Nphet on Saturday and Sunday but once Mr Varadkar made clear his support, the finance minister’s objections faded.

Those close to MR Varadkar have said the U-turn or climbdown portrayal is overly simplistic and his criticisms of Nphet’s manner in the original recommendation to go to Level 5 remain valid but the situation is now beyond argument.

They say he has been consistent in that the country was not ready to jump to Level 5 two Sundays' ago and it was ready this week, given the work done behind the scenes.

Sources in the meetings say the Tánaiste had always left himself open to the idea of a circuit break lockdown and the science put forward by Nphet was clear and unambiguous.

However, many have pointed to the fact that the science was unambiguous on October 5 and simply Mr Varadkar’s own shortcomings have been exposed by this episode.