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

I thank Deputy Martin. As he will be aware, Dara Murphy has resigned from the Dáil and is no longer a Member of the House or the Fine Gael parliamentary party. He is taking up a new role in the European Commission, a job he applied for and got. It is not a Government appointment.

In relation to his remuneration and expenses, I spoke to him last night and last weekend. Last night he confirmed that he is willing to submit to any formal investigation regarding his conduct, whether it is his remuneration, expenses or whatever, and that can be done by the ethics committee or the Standards in Public Office Commission. If it cannot be done by those bodies for some reason, he is willing to put all of the information in front of the Clerk of the Dáil who can examine whether or not he complied with the rules and regulations of this House.

His role with the EPP was as a campaign director for a period of time and ended six months ago. While he did that role he was still responsible for looking after his constituency, through his constituency office in Cork, and being here as a TD and Member of the Dáil. The record shows that he was here for 120 days last year, including for 40-something sitting days, and voted on occasions. He is not the only Member of the House to have another job and other employment. It is not permitted for Government Ministers to have other jobs or employment, but it is permitted for TDs to have other jobs or employment and some members of the Fianna Fáil Front Bench have other jobs and other employment.

On my discussions with Dara Murphy in May 2018, at that time he informed me he would not run for the Dáil again. That did not come as any surprise. I thanked him for his service in the years gone by and said we would endeavour to find a new candidate to replace him to contest the election whenever it came, and we have.

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