Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I never give a reference to somebody I do not know. It is my general practice not to give references to people I do not know and that is not always well received in my constituency clinic.

With regard to email, I have a number of email accounts. I have had an Oireachtas email account for ten or 11 years, which is used mainly for constituency correspondence. I have a Department email account which changes as I move from Department to Department. I also have a personal email account. It is my practice to use them for their intended purpose - my personal email for personal use, my Department email for departmental use and the Oireachtas email for Oireachtas use. Needless to say, however, on occasion I have to use the personal email, such as when the system is down or when I do not have my work telephone with me and only have a personal telephone. In some cases, and I believe the Deputy is referring one such case, people who I have known since before I became Taoiseach email me on a business matter to my personal email account. I follow my Department's email policy, which I signed off on last October. Where a personal email is used I make sure it is forwarded to somebody who has a Department of the Taoiseach address, which is how it appears for freedom of information, or I forward it myself or produce a hard copy. That is how to ensure it is public record and can be released under freedom of information. That is in line with the email policy which I signed last October.

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