Watch live: Varadkar faces Dáil questions on passing of document to GPs' union
Of Martin Confidence Ahead Julien Questions On Picture: From Dáil Mr Currently Varadkar Micheál Statement Tds Taoiseach Expressed In Is Tánaiste The Dáil Behal The Affair The In The Opposition Taking
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is facing questions in the Dáil about his passing of a document to a GPs' union.
Mr Varadkar is currently taking questions in the Dáil from opposition TDs on the affair.
Watch below:
If you are unable to see the Dáil proceedings above you can watch here.
Mr Varadkar has accepted that his passing of the pay deal agreed with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to the rival NAGP, which was headed at the time by Dr Maitiu Ó Tuathail, a friend of Mr Varadkar's, was not best practice.
It is expected that opposition politicians will probe how and why the leaking of the document came about, specifically whether Mr Varadkar was lobbied to release it to Dr Ó Tuathail or if he did it unprompted.
The opposition will also ask Mr Varadkar whether or not the former Taoiseach has engaged in such activity before.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald last night called for all communications between the NAGP and Mr Varadkar to be published.
There has been wide support for Mr Varadkar in the government, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying that he had confidence in Mr Varadkar and believed that his motivation in leaking the document was to get GPs on board.
A number of government ministers have also rowed in behind Mr Varadkar. Fine Gael Deputy leader Simon Coveney has said the Tánaiste “regrets” the incident.
“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 for Leo Varadkar in all of this, Mr Coveney said.
Last night it emerged that the NAGP threatened to tell its members to campaign against Fine Gael just two months beforehand.
Chris Goodey, then chief executive of the NAGP, wrote to TDs, including the former chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party and current junior minister, Martin Heydon, in February 2019, issuing the warning.
In the letter, Mr Goodey said that members could be told to put posters in waiting rooms ahead of last year's local and European elections due to the union being locked out of the negotiation of the new contract.