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Leo Varadkar’s standing tarnished by ‘Leo the leak’ affair

Varadkar said he sent a friend a contract because he wanted to reach an agreement with the National Association of General Practitioners that would be similar to a Irish Medical Organisation deal

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaking to the media at Government Buildings on Wednesday after announcing he is to step down as Taoiseach and as leader of Fine Gael. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/PA Wire

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Arthur Beesley
Thu Mar 21 2024 - 07:00

Leo Varadkar survived a storm over his leak of a confidential Government document to one of his doctor friends. But the affair tarnished his reputation and had potential to block his return for another term as taoiseach after Micheál Martin.

Varadkar was branded “Leo the leak” for posting a draft State contract with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to the home of his friend Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail, then leader of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), a rival to the IMO that is now defunct.

The leak was in 2019 when he was in his first term as taoiseach. But he was still confronting the fallout in 2023, three years after Village magazine set the controversy in motion. The magazine’s report showed how Ó Tuathail said “Leo always delivers” when sending NAGP colleagues a picture of the leaked document.

Varadkar claimed he sent Ó Tuathail the contract because he wanted to reach an agreement with the NAGP that would be similar to the IMO deal. But the document in question was not available to then health minister Simon Harris even though he was insisting on being given an opportunity to review it ahead of a Dáil debate. What is more, health officials had warned any leak would endanger the agreement. For its part the IMO had said any premature disclosure would “represent a serious breach of trust” when it was seeking the support of members for the deal.

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All of that called into question the basis of Varadkar’s defence when he apologised to the Dáil for the “inappropriate” leak, still insisting the “agreement was not something that was an official secret, highly confidential or commercially sensitive” at the time.

Varadkar faced a lengthy Garda investigation, although the Director of Public Prosecution decided not to bring criminal charges. The DPP decision was pivotal – any criminal charge would have ended Varadkar’s political career.

However, the Ó Tuathail leak was examined under ethics law by the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) commission. One complaint to the public ethics watchdog said the NAGP disclosure “speaks to a culture of insiders helping insiders, with confidential information provided to an individual as a result of his friendship with, and political support for, Mr Varadkar”.

The Sipo commission ultimately dismissed demands for a formal inquiry but not before two of the State’s most senior independent officials dissented from its decision. In private statements to Sipo, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Seamus McCarthy and Ombudsman Ger Deering questioned Varadkar’s defence.

McCarthy made a note saying some of Varadkar’s assertions “represent low grade evidence at best”, and warned of the risk of “credibility” issues emerging for Sipo by rejecting a complaint. Deering said Varadkar’s claims that the leaked document was no longer confidential were not supported by his own statements or public records. Still, the C&AG and Ombudsman were outvoted by three other Sipo commissioners when they ruled against an inquiry.

Although Varadkar overcame an onslaught of criticism over the debacle it still raised serious questions about his judgment.

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