People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy says he welcomes this morning’s High Court verdict quashing SIPO’s decision not to investigate Leo Varadkar’s leaking of the proposed GP contract to his friend and political supporter, Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail, then president of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP).
The proposed contract had been negotiated between the Department of Health, the HSE, and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
The NAGP was a rival to the IMO and was not party to the negotiations.
Deputy Murphy said the verdict is vindication for the case he took against SIPO.
“In November 2022 SIPO refused my request to carry out an inquiry into these important matters,” he said.
“SIPO claimed it could not investigate Leo Varadkar’s actions when he claimed he leaked the document in his capacity as Taoiseach as it did not have the remit to consider “either the lawfulness of the action or the extent of the powers of the office of Taoiseach”.
“The High Court has now found that SIPO did not provide adequate reasoning for this decision.
“This High Court verdict is a clear vindication of the case I took against SIPO.
“SIPO must now carry out an inquiry into the then Taoiseach’s leaking of this document.
“It was scandalous that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens rallied around him at the time despite this clear breach of the ethics legislation.
“It is worth noting that if he was still Taoiseach and SIPO was compelled to investigate, his position would now be untenable.
“I would like to thank our legal team, Prospect Law, Ruadhan Mac Aodhain of Prospect Law and our counsel, Gary Moloney BL and Feichin McDonagh SC.
“This is an important victory for transparency and for holding politicians to account.
“Future Taoisigh and government Ministers must not be able to rely on the Nixon defence that no matter what they do, it is legal and beyond investigation.
“SIPO must now act speedily to carry out their inquiry and publish their findings as a matter of urgent public interest”.