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

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I read about this morning on the RTÉ news website. What is recounted on the website this morning is worrying and, as the Deputy notes, it relates to very sensitive and private matters affecting individuals with disabilities and their families. I do not know all the facts but I will watch the "RTÉ Investigates" programme tonight. I am sure the Department of Health will want to make a statement on the matter, if it has not done so already, and it will want to reply to any questions or concerns raised.

I understand only from reading the RTÉ website this morning that a protected disclosure was made on the matter in 2020. Personally, I have no recollection of being briefed on this. The Deputy mentioned that I am a former Minister for Health, but that was four or five years ago for a period of a year and a half and I do not have any personal recollection of this at all. Disability was a delegated matter, as the Deputy knows. I would have to double-check any records in that regard but I have no personal recollection of it at the moment.

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