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

That is why I support and the Government supports the work of the news media and I always try to be as accessible and open with the media as I can be. Sometimes there are tensions between the Government and media but that is as it should be. I read the story in the newspaper today and I profoundly regret if anyone in the country thinks that in any way I do not support a free press or respect the work of journalists. A free, fair and balanced media is a cornerstone of democracy and our freedoms and that is why it is so important. At the same time, it should not consider itself to be beyond reproach or above criticism. On many occasions in Irish society we have had times where groups of people or institutions felt themselves to be beyond reproach or above criticism and we know the results and consequences of that.

This was a private event. It was a two-hour lunch. It was done at my request because I wanted to sit down with young Irish people living in New York, to have an exchange of views with them and to hear what their thoughts were on the situation in America and in Ireland. I would like to be able to respect the privacy of that event but that is not possible now. There is no record of it. There was no speech given. It was a back and forth conversation involving about 15 or 20 people, covering a whole range of topics from Brexit to the United Nations-----

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