Varadkar leaked GP contract while minister for health was urgently seeking copy
via @IrishTimeshttps://t.co/GnqUdHJvim— Pearse Doherty (@PearseDoherty) January 20, 2021
This morning.
Via The Irish Times:
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act to the Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty and seen by The Irish Times show increasingly urgent 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).
Varadkar leaked GP contract while Harris urgently sought copy (Irish Times)
Meanwhile…
The problem for @LeoVaradkar is that as @SimonHarrisTD, the Minister, didn’t have the contract he can’t have authorised the leak.
Varadkar loses his criminal defence.
Official Secrets Act s4 ~ requires a leak be authorised by a ‘Minister/State authority’ https://t.co/YW4D5sjJQF pic.twitter.com/0cNyL7GCn1— Village Magazine (@VillageMagIRE) January 20, 2021
Uh oh.
he’ll never resign or be held accountable and Martin will defend him to the hilt. So all that can ever happen is TD’s standing up in the Dail and saying its a disgrace. That will go on for a few weeks and that’ll be it. There’s no accountability in Ireland. Banana republic with a democracy mask on.
Yep, it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic
Great Headline.
Made me chuckle. Thank you.
The truth of this matter is making its way out slowly.
Hmm. Now the sleaze ball has been totally exposed I will relish wiping the gimp Greenwash Party’s face in it when they come crawling around begging for a vote in the next election.
Is there anyone in FF willing to take Leo The Leak to task?
It’s still a lovely little country to do corrupt business in!
Maybe rub FG’s face in it given he is the leader of that party.
The Village are grasping at straws. The Official Secrets Act S4 (that thy reference) says:
4.—(1) A person shall not communicate any official information to any other person unless he is duly authorised to do so or does so in the course of and in accordance with his duties as the holder of a public office or when it is his duty in the interest of the State to communicate it.
[…]
(4) In this section “duly authorised” means authorised by a Minister or State authority or by some person authorised in that behalf by a Minister or State authority.
but Leo was a Minister… so could authorise it himself without breaking this act.
Note: the legislation has a definition for Minister in case they wanted to limit that to the Minister for Health:
“Minister” means a member of the Government
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1963/act/1/enacted/en/print
So that’s, ahem, the excuse why he did it then?
If he did authorize it, then i’m sure there’s an official record of that authorization, searchable under FOI?
Why would he authorize it in the first place (if he did)?
I think you are stretching the bounds of the meaning of the word “authority”. I am not sure if one can “self authorise”. The ordinary meaning of giving authority involves two or more people. If one could self authorise as you claim it strikes me as a bit odd that Section 4(1) contains the words “or does so in the course of and in accordance with his duties as the holder of a public office”. The Minister of Health does not have to “self authorise” when dealing with health matters as that is part of his job as the holder of the relevant office. If we accept your interpretation how exactly did Mr Varadkar “self authorise” himself? Did he do so in writing or verbally? Were there any witnesses if he did so verbally?
The Party in The Park (the one held in the rented house, Stewards Lodge?) has some outstanding questions to be answered too by said Varadkar.
What questions are they?