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Opposition parties sought to step up pressure on Tánaiste Leo Varadkar on Sunday night after revelations over the weekend that he passed details of a draft medical agreement to a friend when he was taoiseach.
Opposition leaders are expected to question the Tánaiste in the Dáil on Tuesday about the matter and also about any other documents he has provided to outsiders.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said it was “a scandal.”
“What I was doing was taking care of a friend, the old man’s club, taking care of the insiders,” Cullinane said.
The co-leader of the Social Democrats Róisín Shortall said there were “many pending questions [Mr Varadkar] he needs to respond, and the situation is not exactly as he described it in his statement on Saturday. “
The revelations, published in Village magazine, that Varadkar approved a draft of the new agreement for general practitioners negotiated between the government and the Irish Medical Organization (IMO) in April last year to a friend who was head of a rival group, the National. Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), sparked a political storm over the weekend.
Varadkar issued a lengthy statement Saturday night in which he rejected the magazine’s claims that he may have violated the law. He said he approved the draft document in an attempt to secure wider support among doctors for the new contract.
Mr. Varadkar accepted that his delivery of the document, which he had mailed to the home of Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail, a personal friend, “was not the best practice” and regretted “not ensuring that it was provided in an appropriately formal manner. ”.
Statement
Dr. Ó Tuathail said in a statement last night that the document was given to him as part of a pre-existing agreement to share information about the deal.
The statement matches elements of the version of events described by Varadkar on Saturday, including the claim that the contents of the leaked document were largely finalized by the time he received it.
“We received a copy of the finalized, agreed and announced program for chronic disease management from the then taoiseach in mid-April. This was seen as a continuation of the government’s decision to consult with the NAGP and its GP members and keep them informed at all times ”.
The sensitivity of the information received, and the degree to which it can be considered to have been largely approved at the time the leak occurred, is likely to be a key part of the political fallout from the controversy in the days ahead.
It appears that while the NAGP leadership had a copy of the document in its possession since mid-April, it did not distribute it to its members to promote acceptance of the proposed new agreement.
In a statement on April 29 last year, the NAGP said that “many GPs are waiting to see the details of the new offer before renewing their subscription. This has created financial difficulties for the NAGP.
“Three weeks have passed since the announcement of the new contract and to date there is no trace of any contract or contractual document.”
At the time, the organization was going through a great deal of internal turmoil that saw the resignation of its president, Dr. Ó Tuathail, and his governing council, amid accusations about governance and spending.
Fine Gael politicians rallied yesterday in defense of Varadkar, but there is concern throughout the government over the controversy.
While various sources from Fianna Fáil were very critical of Varadkar in private, they also said that unless there are more revelations on the matter, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is likely to support his Coalition partner. It is understood that there were no further contacts between the two men yesterday.
The Green Party, which said Varadkar had questions to answer, will likely await his explanations in the Dáil, the sources said.
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