Sinn Féin should go to the gardaí if they believe there’s been a leak at Cabinet, a Fine Gael minister says.
It’s after Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy used Dáil privilege to claim Simon Harris leaked the Katherine Zappone appointment to journalists - a claim which Minister Harris denies.
A spokeswoman for Minister Harris says this was a clear misuse of Dáil privilege and that the claim is untrue.
The claim came during the debate around the confidence motion in Simon Coveney - a vote the minister comfortably survived.
Junior Minister Peter Burke told Newstalk Breakfast Deputy Carthy should go to the gardaí if he has evidence.
He said: "This is the key thing: Deputy Carthy provided no evidence and no detail about what he said or what he alleged.
"One point I'd make about that leak was the actual leak was incorrect... it was alleged, through the leak, that it was the Tánaiste that took the memo to Government with Katherine Zappone's name on it.
"That would suggest a huge possibility of it being from outside a government minister. We don't know where it came from."
He said anyone who has evidence "absolutely" should report it to gardaí as it's a "criminal offence".
He added: "Deputy Carthy abused Dáil privilege by putting it on the record.
"There's no evidence for it - this is about throwing muck at the wall and hoping some of it will stick."
