People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has said it would be “hypocritical” if Leo Varadkar is not sanctioned for leaking the proposed GP contract agreement.

The Tánaiste will appear before the Dáil tomorrow to answer questions on the scandal.

It comes after he admitted sending a copy of a deal agreed with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to the then-president of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail.

Mr Varadkar has admitted that it was “not best practice” to share a confidential agreement made with one group of doctors with the head of another but insisted he had done nothing unlawful.

He said he only sent on the information in a bid to get the agreement accepted by as many GPs as possible.

The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar at Government Buildings in Dublin, 14-10-2020. Image: Julien Behal

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Deputy Smith said she believes Minister Varadkar should resign his position as Tánaiste.

“I do think that we have a bit of a hypocritical situation here if there isn’t some outcome for Leo Varadkar,” she said.

“After all, back in the day when he was on the front bench, Phil Hogan had to remove himself from the front bench because he leaked some budget information prior to the publication of the budget.

“And we all know what happened to Denis Naughten more recently because he had mixed with some lobbyists in relation to the broadband.”

"Hypocrisy"

She said the then-taoiseach had no right to share the document with someone he was friendly with.

“He is a GP and this was his circle of friends that he was sharing a document with,” she said.

“It said, ‘confidential, not for publication’ right across it and he shared it when he knows and admits that he shouldn’t have.

“There is an edge to that that illustrates a sort of hypocrisy unless he is willing to take sanction as a result of that and I would think that he would need to resign as Tánaiste.”

Unions

Deputy Smith said the NAGP was not a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the document was shared around the same time the government was refusing to talk to ambulance staff because their NASRA union was not recognised.

“Several times both the minister for health and the then-taoiseach stood up in the Dáil and told us that the Government or the HSE cannot deal with any trade union that is outside ICTU,” she said.

“So, it is one law for his doctor friends and another law for the frontline workers, who are the paramedics and the ambulance workers.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin outside Government Buildings in Dublin, 02-11-2020. Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images

Earlier today, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was “inappropriate” for Leo Varadkar to leak the document – but insisted the then-taoiseach had done nothing wrong.

Dr Ó Tuathail has said that "all GPs had a right" to access information on a programme for chronic disease management, which is at the centre of the controversy.

Meanwhile Sinn Féin's Louise O’Reilly told Newstalk Breakfast that Minister Varadkar must answer questions over the sharing of a confidential document with one of his 'mates'.