Varadkar 'regrets' leaking copy of GP contract to friend, says Simon Coveney
Defence For Simon And Picture Coveney Dublin Arrives For Castle Foreign Meeting File Minister A At Cabinet Affairs
Fine Gael Deputy leader Simon Coveney has said Tánaiste Leo Varadkar “regrets” his leaking of a copy of the GP contract with a friend but insisted his intentions were proper.
Mr Coveney insisted the document was leaked on a confidential basis, on the basis of Mr Varadkar wanting to brief National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) head Maitiú Ó Tuathail on where they were at in terms of what the deal looked like, so that he could actually help in selling this to GPs.
The Foreign Affairs minister said this was a deal that had concluded in terms of negotiation negotiations were over, and we had then moved into a phase of the IMO asking for some time to sell that to their membership.
He said the Tánaiste regrets the way, this happened and what he did.
“But I think it is important also that people understand why he did it because this was essentially part of a very long process whereby a deal had been struck with the Irish Medical organisation (IMO) after seven months of negotiation, where the IMO had come out and issued a press release, with a lot of detail about what was in that,” he said.
There was no personal gain in this for Leo Varadkar in all of this, Mr Coveney said.
“This wasn't a best practice. Instead, what probably should have happened here was the Taoiseach should have instructed Simon Harris, or the Department of Health to give a briefing to this body that was outside of the negotiation process.
But that isn't what happened, but I think it's important that the public know because this is a reputational issue it's a trust issue for the Tánaiste,” Mr Coveney said.