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The government has rebuffed efforts by opposition whips to extend the time allotted for Dáil’s exchanges about Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s leak of a copy of a draft contract to a friend.
With Mr. Varadkar facing tough questions about the reasons and circumstances behind his decision in April 2019 to transmit a draft GP contract to Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), the head of government, Jack Chambers, refused to give in to requests to increase the time allowed for questions.
It occurred when spokesmen for opposition parties again criticized Mr. Varadkar for what they described as a “serious breach” of trust and questioned his motives for doing so.
The Tánaiste’s statement, followed by a question and answer session, is scheduled to begin at 4.30 p.m. and will last 90 minutes.
At the Dáil business committee meeting this morning, Sinn Féin whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn proposed more time for the Opposition than the 10 minutes allotted to each party and group. The proposal was supported by all the other opposition parties.
However, the Government has refused to change the schedule and the matter is now likely to be put to a vote on the Agenda this afternoon.
Earlier, Mr. Varadkar privately thanked Ministers for their support and for “doing the difficult interviews” at a morning meeting today.
Fine Gael ministers met this morning ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting, in which Mr Varadkar is believed to have addressed the controversy over a leaked document he sent to a friend who was the head of a medical organization.
Sources present at the meeting confirmed that Mr. Varadkar thanked the Fine Gael ministers for their support and for “making the interviews difficult” and asked for their advice on how to approach the Dáil debate later today.
Several ministers provided advice on how to deal with the statement that Mr. Varadkar is to make after 4 pm.
The Tánaiste did not address the issue in the subsequent Cabinet meeting, it is understood.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said Tuesday afternoon that the leak was a “very serious infraction” and that the responsibility now fell on Mr Varadkar to “make it very clear that his actions were inappropriate.”
“He is an experienced politician. He was the head of government at the time. In my opinion, it was very clear to me that he knew this was wrong. I knew it was not appropriate, ”he said.
Mr Cullinane said that it seemed to him that there was an “old man’s network” at play with Mr Varadkar doing a friend a favor, rather than trying to bring as many GPs on board as possible.
When asked what response was required from the Tánaiste to the controversy, Labor education spokesman Aodhán Ó Riordáin said that Varadkar would have to get up in the Dáil and apologize and say he was wrong. He said that Varadkar would also have to confirm that he had never done this before or after.
Then maybe we can all move on. We cannot stick to this line: I was trying to get more support for this agreement and, at the same time, say that the agreement was in the public domain. ”
He said the Labor Party will ask a number of questions about the nature of the friendship with Dr. Ó Tuathail, his relationship with the NAGP and his knowledge of the association.
“If (Mr. Varadkar) remains in the line that he has currently maintained, I think this will continue to be a problem for him and the Government,” he said.
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