Results 7,941-7,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure that is a question. I was not chatting. I wanted to make sure I pieced together everything in my recollection so that I could share all of these facts with the House. One of the things published in Villagewas a WhatsApp message from me to him looking for his home address. I did not have that WhatsApp message any more and I wanted to check the exact date on which I sent the...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". He is over-egging it. That is clearly a big part of this story. Someone who is known to me, who is a friend but not a close friend, made out to various people that he was closer to me than he was and that he had special access. That is a big part of what this is about. I am not trying to make out that I am some sort of victim. That is simply...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, my personal assistant, PA, to whom I gave the document for postage.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure how often my PA reads documents that I post. When I was trying to put the timeline together, she did recall it. I doubt she read it.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Either my PA or my private secretary handles any phone calls or post for me in the normal course. As I said, I gave this document to Dr. Ó Tuathail on a confidential basis as president of the NAGP. As I said earlier, all the salient details had already been published. The engagement with the IMO had concluded. The fact that a hard copy of a document is marked "CONFIDENTIAL" does not...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I did not say that.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Not to my knowledge, but a situation like this had never arisen before in my experience. If this had been a traditional pay agreement, we would have published the agreement that night or within a day or two. If it had been a dispute settlement, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, or the Labour Court would have released the document that evening. If it had been a commercial contract, I...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy asked about anyone who worked for me. Hundreds of people have worked for me in the last ten years. I cannot answer on their behalf. I can answer on mine. The answer on my behalf is "No".

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: In fairness the Minister for Justice is the Minister for Justice and she would have had no involvement in this. It would not be fair to expect her to know everything about it or to be aware of all the details. That is not a fair proposition that the Deputy is putting forward. My defence is not about how many meetings were held between the NAGP, the HSE and the Department of Health. My...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Any agreement, even when it is done and passed by Cabinet, can be amended. We all know that. Agreements can be made and one can come back, amend them subsequently and they can be subject to change. I have put the records out there for the information of the House tonight. Engagement was concluded - it says that in the Government memo - on 3 April. The details were publicly announced...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I gave it on a confidential basis to Maitiú Ó Tuathail, as president of the NAGP. He shared it with some people in the NAGP but certainly did not publish it or decide to circulate it. It was a document that I had and gave to somebody in confidence. I explained why I did earlier, that I wanted to see if we could get the NAGP on side and make sure it did not oppose this agreement...

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Please, let me finish.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I trained as a GP. I had lots of friends who are GPs and I still do. I did not give the document to my friends who are GPs. I only gave it to one person because he was president of the NAGP, not because he was my friend.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: No.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I did not contact any other Ministers about it. The query did not come to me about it at all, actually. An email, however, was sent to our office asking if I had ever given the document to another doctor or an associate. We did not reply to the query.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Not that I am aware of.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Again, the Deputy is asking me about contacts between the then Minister, Deputy Harris, and Maitiú Ó Tuathail-----

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I would not be surprised. It would be entirely normal for the president of the NAGP to ask the Minister.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware because I saw this tweet published somewhere in the last hour. That is the only reason I am aware of it.

General Practitioner Contract: Statements (3 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy, I can answer questions about my actions, not-----