Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has apologised for "errors of judgment" after he released a confidential document negotiated with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to the president of a rival GP group last year.
Mr Varadkar also rejected as “false and without foundation and deeply offensive” any suggestion he had anything to gain personally from the disclosure.
He was addressing the Dáil on the controversy after he admitted he sent the draft agreement of a new GP contract to the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP).
The organisation was outside the talks process on the new €210 million contract agreed with the IMO and the controversy erupted on Saturday after an article was published in Village magazine about the disclosure.
The Tánaiste said he had not yet decided if he would sue Village magazine over what he said were defamatory claims that he had committed a criminal act in disclosing the report. “Suing them would be like suing someone on Twitter,” he added.
He said there were innuendoes about his relationship with president of the NAGP Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail, a friend, to whom he had sent the document.
“We all know what the innuendo is,” he said. “I know what’s being said, and it’s not true.”
During a two-hour statement and question-and-answer session, Mr Varadkar said he had “unfinished business” from his time in the health portfolio.
“I wanted to use the influence of the taoiseach’s office to secure a new contract with GPs, to reverse the [austerity-era] Fempi cuts in return for a commitment to provide better services in the community for more patients free at the point of use.”
He said rivalry between the two organisations was “often bitter” and made it difficult to reach agreement.
Mr Varadkar was deeply engaged and interested in the talks on a new GP contract. The NAGP wanted to be at the table but the-then government decided to negotiate with the IMO alone which the opposition had criticised, he said.
“We committed, however, to keep the NAGP engaged, involved and informed as to the progress and outcome of negotiations.”
He kept “in personal contact with a number of GPs who I felt were opinion leaders through all of this”.
Agreement was reached with the IMO on April 3rd following lengthy negotiations and the financial details were released by the IMO two days later.
He said he posted the document to Dr Ó Tuathail between April 11th and 16th 2019 on a confidential basis believing that it would be published in full imminently.
At this time in April 2019 the NAGP claimed to have 1,200 members, he said.
He told TDs that “little would get done” without informal contacts. “And we all know it,” he said adding that there was nothing inappropriate about such contacts.
He also said that “sometimes people like to exaggerate the nature of their relationships, to inflate their own influence, or to claim to speak for a person when they do not”. He said “this is clearly a big part of this story”.
Mr Varadkar said that Dr Ó Tuathail was a friend but “we are not close friends”. He said they would meet two or three times a year on “overlapping social events”. They were “not best mates” and Dr Ó Tuathail was “clearly overegging it” on the extent of their friendship.
The Tánaiste also said that providing the NAGP “with the information did not confer to them any advantage on the IMO or anyone else”.
However, he said he regretted that he did not provide the document in a more appropriate, formal manner. “It was an error and I accept sole responsibility.”
“I am sorry for the controversy and the annoyance that my actions have caused, including to members of the medical profession, the IMO, my colleagues in Government and to the House.”
He said he was trying to achieve the best result and was motivated by “the best reasons” and there was “nothing selfish, or dishonest, let alone corrupt or illegal” in what he did.
Mr Varadkar told Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty that he gave the document to Dr Ó Tuathail because he was president of the NAGP rather than because he was a friend.
Asked why he would give a document that was not completely tied down to a friend in a rival organisation, knowing that the document was confidential, Mr Varadkar said he gave it to Dr Ó Tuathail on a confidential basis because he wanted the NAGP to be on board and to support the negotiations.
“This is a favour for friends and I don’t buy your analysis,” said Mr Doherty.
Labour enterprise spokesman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said the Tánaiste’s explanation “lacks credibility” and claimed Mr Varadkar was treating the public like fools.
Mr Varadkar said he had spoken to Dr Ó Tuathail on three occasions over the weekend. The first time he spoke to him was to find out what the story in Village magazine - which revealed the leak on Saturday - was about and on the second occasion to determine the date on which he had sent the document to him. The third time Dr Ó Tuathail contacted him to ask if the NAGP should issue a statement and he replied that was up to the NAGP.
Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín said “your actions were unethical, underhand and deceitful” and may have been illegal.
Mr Varadkar was silent for several seconds when Mr Tóibín asked if he had ever leaked confidential Cabinet information and then said “nothing of this nature”.
Independent TD Mattie McGrath referred to the Tánaiste’s remarks that he was not close friends with Dr Ó Tuathail but there was a photo of the two of them at a march.
Mr Varadkar said that was at a Pride march. “We all know what the innuendo is,” he said. “I know what’s being said and it’s not true.”
The Tánaiste rejected a claim by Independent TD Catherine Connolly that he “bought off” a major campaign of opposition to Fine Gael in the European and local elections threatened by the NAGP. He said they wanted to do the right thing.
