Tánaiste Leo Varadkar posted the new GP contract to the head of rival doctor’s group Maitiú Ó Tuathail in 2019 when then-minister for health Simon Harris was trying to obtain a copy, official records show.
Mr Harris’s officials had warned that any leak of the document would endanger the agreement. Mr Varadkar apologised in the Dáil before Christmas for the leak, which happened in April 2019 when he was taoiseach.
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act to Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty and seen by The Irish Times show attempts by Mr Harris to obtain a copy of the draft agreement between the State and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO). This was happening at the same time as Mr Varadkar had posted a copy to the home address of Dr Ó Tuathail, who was head of the now-defunct National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP).
Mr Varadkar told the Dáil he provided a copy of the document to Dr Ó Tuathail “most likely on 15th or 16th April” 2019. Departmental records show that Mr Harris’s adviser requested a copy on April 15th but was told that the “agreement document has not yet been finalised.”
However, two days later Mr Harris issued a blunt instruction to one of his senior officials to get a draft that day. At 6.30pm that evening, a copy of the document was forwarded to him.
By then, Dr Ó Tuathail had received his copy of the document and was sharing with colleagues in the NAGP, the group he headed.
A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said: “As the Tánaiste explained to the Dáil in November, he received a copy of the agreement made with the IMO from the minister for health around April 4th or 5th.
“This was the agreement which was publicly referenced at the time by the IMO, the HSE, the then taoiseach and the minister, and is the version which was given to Matt Ó Tuathail. In the period following the public announcement of the deal there were further discussions between the HSE and the IMO which resulted in some minor changes. Our understanding is that the minister was looking for an up-to-date copy following Dáil exchanges in mid-April.”
Mr Doherty said on Tuesday night that Mr Varadkar “needs to explain how he was able to get his hands on a document, and provide it to his friend, that was so confidential that the minister for health was being denied a copy by his own officials.”
