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

In my statement on Tuesday, I clearly and definitely accepted responsibility for this. I used the term "sole responsibility" and therefore I have not sought to blame anyone else. I have apologised for it, I have accounted for it and I have said that I accept responsibility for it. I have not been equivocal about that in any way.

I do not have a copy of the document that I sent to Dr. Ó Tuathail. I do not know how it is possible for the Deputy to make those comparisons because I do not have a copy of it. I am not sure how the Deputy can make that comparison with a document that we no longer have. Perhaps there was a version at some point in time that the Deputy is making the comparison from but it may not be the document that I sent to Dr. Ó Tuathail.

As I said in my statement on Tuesday, any changes that were made subsequently were minor. This was agreed on 3 April. As the Cabinet memorandum says on 9 April, engagement had concluded with the IMO, and it was publicly announced on 4 April and launched on 6 April. Any changes were so minor that they did not require a return to the Cabinet. They were of that nature. If they were of significance, they would have required a return to the Cabinet.

My contact with Dr. Ó Tuathail over the weekend related to the fact that Deputy Paul Murphy had claimed in a tweet that I shared the document on 2 April. I believed that to be untrue and I wanted to check with Dr. Ó Tuathail that it was not the case because the screen grab that was there said it was 17 April. That was closer to my recollection that I gave him the document in the days before that, and that was correct.

When I checked my WhatsApp messages, it was not there. I do not, as standard, keep all text messages. I have a personal email address. Anything on that which could constitute a public record I then forward to my official account but I do not, as standard, keep text messages.

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