Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today's debate is about low standards, credibility and trust but, most of all, it is about how Government business is done by Fine Gael. Last week, Leo Varadkar admitted to leaking a highly confidential document. When his colleague, the then Minister for Health, was asked to leak the same document, he refused, yet the leader of Fine Gael passed the document, marked "Confidential" and "not for circulation", to a personal friend and political supporter. He gave it to an individual and organisation that stood to gain, organisationally and financially, from securing that privileged information.

Leo Varadkar's claim that he did this in the public interest is simply not credible. The Government was not talking to the NAGP, and that organisation had a history of seeking to undermine previous GP contracts. The simple fact is that the leader of Fine Gael broke the rules. He breached the confidentiality of Cabinet and sensitive Government contract negotiations, all to give a dig out to a friend. If anyone did this in any other job, they would be sacked. Just because he was the head of Government does not mean that lower standards should be applied. Of course, we know, however, that this is how Fine Gael does business. It looks after those on the inside while leaving the vast majority behind.

How many former Fine Gael Deputies and Ministers are now corporate lobbyists? Enda Kenny works for VentureWave Capital, Brian Hayes for the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland and Michael D'Arcy for the Irish Association of Investment Managers. I could name many more. Indeed, it seems that Fine Gael is fertile recruiting ground for lobbyists who trade in access and influence. All of this has a price. Ordinary people pay the consequence for such insider trading. That is why the private sector has a privileged position in housing policy, why the Government gives more money to big developers and institutional landlords than local authorities and approved housing bodies, why investment funds pay virtually no tax but charge sky-high rents, why banks are bailed out but struggling mortgage holders are left to fend for themselves and why, thanks to the current Minister for Housing and his predecessor, we have the worst social and affordable housing crisis in recent history.

Today, Deputies have a clear choice. They can vote confidence in Leo Varadkar and send out a clear signal that all of this is okay and that Fine Gael is still in charge and calling the shots. Alternatively, Deputies can say that enough is enough and that it is time to end low standards in high places, time to end insider dealing and time for a Government that looks out for everyone and not just its friends.

See this speech in context