Taoiseach Micheál Martin says he has confidence in Leo Varadkar, despite growing pressure on the Tánaiste after it emerged he shared a confidential government agreement with a friend.
Mr Martin said he did not believe any law was broken by Mr Varadkar, though his actions were not best practice.
The Tánaiste will be quizzed in the Dáil on Tuesday about the affair and also about any other documents he provided to people outside government.
Mr Varadkar passed a draft of the new deal for GPs negotiated between the government and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in April last year to a friend who was head of a rival group, the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP). The revelations were published in Village magazine over the weekend.
Mr Martin said lessons can be learned and offered a partial defence of Mr Varadkar.
He said: “The Tánaiste himself has acknowledged that this was not best practice and that he regrets the manner in which the document was forwarded to the president of the NAGP.
“And I also believe that it was an inappropriate way to deal with a document of this kind.”
Simon Harris, who was Minister for Health at the time, said he did not know Mr Varadkar had shared the details of the IMO agreement with a member of the NAGP.
But he accepted Mr Varadkar’s “bona fides” and what he had been trying to achieve.
Mr Harris, who is now the Minister for Higher Education, told RTÉ that Mr Varadkar had been passionate about the deal with GPs and wanted more doctors to get behind it.
Some of the comments made over the weekend about Mr Varadkar and the incident were “grossly inaccurate and unfair,” he said.
Political pressure
Opposition parties have been intensifying their pressure on the Tánaiste over the contract leak.
Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said it had been “deeply inappropriate and absolutely wrong” for Mr Varadkar to share the agreement.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said it was “a scandal”.
“What he was doing was looking after a friend – the old boys’ club, looking after the insiders,” Mr Cullinane said.
Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall said there were “a lot of outstanding questions [Mr Varadkar] needs to answer, and the situation is not exactly how he outlined it in his statement on Saturday”.
'Honourable person'
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee acknowledged the manner in which the Tánaiste “delivered” the sensitive information “could have been better.”
Speaking on Monday morning, Ms McEntee said Mr Varadkar did not have an “agenda” and it was inaccurate to suggest that important information was being circulated to try to change the details of the agreement.
“The manner in which he delivered this could have been better, he has said himself that he realises this wasn’t best practice.”
Ms McEntee said trust was not an issue when it came to Mr Varadkar, whom she described as “an honourable person”.
“The only motivation here was to get a good deal,” she said.
'Not best practice'
Mr Varadkar issued a lengthy statement on Saturday evening in which he rejected the claims he may have broken the law. He said he passed on the draft document in a bid to secure wider backing among doctors for the new contract.
Mr Varadkar accepted that his sharing of the document, which he had couriered to the home of Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail, a personal friend, was “not best practice”. He expressed regret “that he did not ensure that it was provided in a more appropriately formal manner”.
Dr Ó Tuathail said in a statement on Sunday night the document was given to him as part of a pre-existing arrangement to share information on the deal.
The sensitivity of the information received is likely to be a key part of the political fallout from the controversy in the coming days. – Additional reporting: Vivienne Clarke
