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Updated 31 minutes ago
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said that he trusts Leo Varadkar as Tánaiste and that, in his opinion, no laws were broken in relation to the disclosure of IMO’s agreement with the National Association of Family Physicians (NAGP).
The Taoiseach said that it was “not good practice” to share the document in that way, and claimed that Tanaiste himself has accepted it.
When asked if he has confidence in the Tánaiste, Martín said:
“Yes. I mean, I have no problem in terms of how we are working together.”
While he said it was not an adequate way to deal with such a document, Martin said:
“I do not believe that any laws have been violated in relation to this. And I think yes, in terms of future practice, lessons can be learned from this. And in life we all, you know, we can learn from past experiences. “
The Taoiseach said he was not in the last government, but as he understands it, the motivation for sharing the document was to try to get this agreement passed.
On Saturday night, the Tánaiste acknowledged that it was not “best practice” to provide a government document to a medical organization through informal channels, but rejected allegations that it violated any laws in doing so.
Varadkar’s statement said he “regrets” not ensuring that it was provided in a more “appropriately formal” manner.
The statement said this was after “essential details” of the contract were publicly released earlier that month.
The former president of the NAGP has said that it was “wrong” that this group of general practitioners did not have in sight the draft of the contract agreed by the government in April 2019.
‘Inappropriate’
Speaking to reporters at government buildings today, the Taoiseach said:
“This was not the proper way to treat a document of this type, in terms of the way it was sent to the president of the NAGP.
“My own overall opinion on such a deal, all I have to say is that given the amount of public money involved, insofar as it relates to the management of chronic diseases, for example for SGM patients , and involves the reversal of Cortes FEMPI, that this should have been public knowledge long before.
“These agreements are not essentially your normal type of contract in terms of a commercial contract, in terms of a particular project, but rather they relate to general health service and health service spending. And in my opinion, it should have been made public much earlier, and in hindsight, that’s the lesson to be learned from this. “
He said that such an agreement should be published as soon as possible, stating that if this had happened, in this case what happened would have been prevented.
No financial gain
Martin said there was no financial gain to anyone from sharing the document, stating that “there was no material benefit to anyone.”
He added: “It was not the best practice, it was not appropriate to do it that way.”
When asked about the role Varadkar could play in the new public service payment agreement to be negotiated, Martin said:
“I don’t have a problem there, I don’t think there is any difficulty in terms of the process around that or the necessary confidentiality around that.”
The Taoiseach said that he will not anticipate what the Tánasite has to say in the Dáil tomorrow. He said he did not participate “in any kind of interrogation” with Varadkar over the weekend.
Martin said that Varadkar “was willing to enter the Dáil,” adding that they both agreed that this was the forum in which deputies should be allowed to ask questions on the matter.
The Taoiseach admitted today that the gist of the IMO deal “in terms of the headlines around restoring FEMPI cuts around chronic disease management and other aspects” was made public, but added: “Obviously, the entire document at that particular point was not in the public domain. “
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The Tánaiste is expected to make a statement in the Dáil tomorrow on these issues amid criticism from the opposition and concerns from Fine Gael’s coalition partners.
The Green Party has said that Varadkar’s actions “were not appropriate”, while Fianna Fáil TD and Education Minister Norma Foley said yesterday that a “very frank” statement was needed.
Over the weekend it emerged that then-Health Minister Simon Harris was unaware that Varadkar had shared the document.
Speaking this morning on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Harris said the Tánaiste called him over the weekend and that he accepts what Varadkar was trying to accomplish. However, he said he agreed that it was not the best way to do it.
“The appropriate way to conduct these negotiations was between the Department of Health, HSE and IMO, and when those negotiations were concluded, they consulted widely with the broader stakeholders, of which the NAGP would have been one,” he said.
Harris said he did not believe Varadkar was trying to undermine him as Health Minister.
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