Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of People Before Profit, I would like to express our condolences to the families of both Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Tommie Gorman. They both had a significant impact on public life over decades in different ways.

Has the Taoiseach reflected on the High Court's decision on Friday last to the effect that the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, did not provide adequate reasoning for its failure to start a preliminary investigation into my complaint against Deputy Varadkar. This complaint, which I presume the Taoiseach remembers, relates to Deputy Varadkar's leaking of the confidential GP contract to the head of the rival National Association of General Practitioners, NAGP. At the time, the Taoiseach, as the rest of the Government did, backed Deputy Varadkar. We know that the SIPO decision was the first contested one in its history. The result was three votes to two, with the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Ombudsman disagreeing with the decision to refuse a preliminary inquiry. We know from a freedom of information request that at the time the Ombudsman stated: "A court order to reconsider rejection of a complaint would be appalling, and would compromise the credibility of any subsequent decision we made." Has the Taoiseach any reflection on the capacity of SIPO to investigate those in the highest of high offices and to hold them to account under our ethics legislation?

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