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

No, that is exactly what I said, or more or less what I said, back in November. Of course I got the document from the Department of Health. Where else would I have got it from? The only people who had it were the Department of Health and the IMO. I hardly got it from the IMO, so of course I got it from the Department of Health, through the Minister, Deputy Harris, and my special adviser. She has that record, she has that document and it was released already under FOI. It is the document from 3 April. I had no later version. Some people are suggesting I did; I did not.

Why are there no records of me requesting it? Because I requested it verbally. Lots of times, I talked to my Ministers, advisers and officials. It is not that everything is done by email or done by writing. I had a number of documents in my inbox today, some of which I requested, some of which I did not. For very few of them would there be a written request requesting a particular document. There are things I would ask for verbally and they can be handed over in person. Everything does not have a paper trail and that is the reality of any workplace.

As I explained back in November, my motivation was to demonstrate to the president of the NAGP that this was a deal that it should not oppose, to mollify its opposition and to get it over the line. In the end, it did not oppose it and the deal did get over the line, so the strategy was successful in that regard.

See this speech in context