Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The situation we are dealing with here should never really have arisen. The Tánaiste, while Taoiseach, last year engaged in an action which was wrong. He was found out and had to own up. He should have admitted that it was wrong and apologised. That would probably have been the end of it. However, he never admitted it was wrong and instead concocted a false narrative, a cock and bull story which clearly misrepresented the truth on a number of counts. Arguably, that was the greater error because the truth matters.

The Tánaiste first tried to make out that the confidential document which he leaked was somehow not confidential, despite it being clearly marked "Confidential, not for circulation". This was a negotiation document that was still in process with the IMO. The document was not capable of being finalised at that point as there were a number of outstanding issues to be agreed between the parties to it. There was not sign-off by the IMO until 16 April and it took another month before the final document was published by the Department. The then Minister for Health clarified last week that this was actually the case.

The Tánaiste tried to make out that what he did was some kind of noble action, that he had a legitimate objective and that he was honouring the Government commitment. There was no basis whatsoever for this claim. Anyone who knew anything about medical politics at the time knew that the row between the NAGP and the IMO was vicious. The Tánaiste had been a member of the IMO and, anyway, he had lots of friends who were GPs from both organisations, as he has told us. We know the intention of the NAGP's inner sanctum was to scupper the IMO's win on the contract negotiations and to upstage the IMO on the eve of its annual general meeting by releasing details of the arrangement. The Minister for Foreign Affairs should check his dates on this because what he said earlier was simply not correct.

If there was any truth in what the Tánaiste claimed, surely he would have urged Dr. Ó Tuathail and the NAGP to support and promote the agreement. There is no evidence that he did this. In addition, if there was any hint of truth in this, he would, of course, have co-operated with the line Minister to that end but, no, he went behind the back of the then Minister for Health.

On 26 January 2017, the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, was contacted by a former member of the Air Corps on the issue of premature deaths, which is serious and needs urgent examination. There had been 86 premature deaths recorded since the 1980s, including 32 personnel under the age of 50, with many in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Twenty members have died since that contact was made in 2017. The Tánaiste's response at the time was to refer to the Cabinet handbook. He stated that the handbook, "doesn't allow me to go behind the backs of other ministers or enter into confidence with someone else to exclude them." He also indicated that he had signed a contract to observe collective responsibility . It is not that the Tánaiste did not know the rules, it was that he decided not to abide by them in respect of the IMO document.

Not only was the Tánaiste aware that he should not have interfered with the work of the Minister for Health but he also knew that, according to the Cabinet handbook, he was bound by the officeholders' code of conduct which states that officeholders should respect confidences entrusted to them in the course of their official duties. The Tánaiste clearly breached this requirement. His Trumpian defence that he, as Taoiseach at the time, was the arbiter of what he was allowed to do is laughable.

What added insult to injury for the public was that, as leader of Fine Gael, the Tánaiste required his Cabinet colleagues to demean themselves by parroting cynically crafted spin lines and repeating his false narrative across the airwaves. His actions in respect of this sordid affair were unworthy of his office. He damaged the Government and he damaged trust in politics. For that reason, and for all of the reasons and facts I have set out, the Social Democrats cannot vote confidence in him.

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