Years after the Varadkar leak, there is still no end to this affair via IrishTimesPol
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar: In relation to the 2019 leak of a draft GP contract to one of Varadkar's medical friends, Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy said some of his assertions 'represent low-grade evidence at best, in a matter in which he has a significant interest'.
New disclosures from the public ethics watchdog cast fresh light on this most sensitive of cases for it. Months after the DPP chose not to pursue charges, the Standards in Public Office Commission voted under ethics law against conducting a preliminary inquiry into complaints against Varadkar. Such an investigation is a fact-finding exercise before deciding whether there should be a full inquiry.
Still, records released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act showed the dissenters were two of the most senior independent officials in the State: Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy; and Ombudsman Ger Deering. They were outvoted by three Sipo commissioners – Sheehan; Peter Finnegan, clerk of the Dáil; and Martin Groves, clerk of the Seanad – but private statements they made were bruising for Varadkar.
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