In another country, Leo could face police probe

LEAKY Leo Varadkar has expressed his regret for giving a doctor friend of his a confidential government document. The former Taoiseach is sincerely sorry for he knows he broke the first and most important rule in Irish politics… he got caught.

On the plus side, it gives the public a rare insight into how the country really works and how those in the golden circle have the inside track on government decisions. We’ve oft en speculated how certain people mysteriously seem to always be in the right place at the right time and Tory Boy’s little indiscretion has exposed its workings. He will forever be known as Leaky Leo, but he’s also Lucky Leo.

In many countries where the rule of law applies, even to those in high office, this incident would be described as tainted by a whiff of corruption.

Luckily we don’t do corruption in Ireland as that particular rose goes by many other names in this Republic.

Had he done this in some other advanced democracies, he might be explaining his actions to police as well as the parliament.

Bu t i n t h i s l a n d w h e r e e v e n wrongdoing has b e e n deregulated , the l eaking of a document marked “confidential” and “not for circulation” to a friend and political supporter is not a resigning matter.

T h e f a c t t h e c o n t r a c t being negotiated between the g o v e r n ment a n d t h e I r i s h Medical Organisation was posted to pal Maitiu O Tuathail, who happened to be the President of rival organisation the National Association of General Practition ers, means this case would be f i l ed under economic espionage in other countries.

The fact the affairs of the NAGP, which imploded with debts of € 400,000 and is now being investigated by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, only adds to the impression of scandal.

Tor y Boy has come under precious littl e pressure from the Taoiseach and Fi anna Fai l while t he only l eaks t he Greens are concerned about are growing on Eamon Ryan’s south- facing windowsill.

Still, while Leo was spared a grilling by his coalition partners, the above parties will be toast at the next election because of their complicity and abject failure to hold him to account.

That was l eft to i ndependent TD Catherine Connolly who exposed the gravity of the scandal while delivering a knockout blow to the sultan of spin. Tory

Boy had b e en cl ai ming t hat l eakin g g o v e r n m e n t d o c u m e n t s m a r k e d confidential to a friend who had a vested interest in its contents was merely “an error of judgement”.

Her question : “When did you realise that you had made an error in judgement?”, hit the former Taoiseach like a torrent of scalding water from a burst pipe and left him struggling to stay on his feet never mind come up with a coherent answer.

She followed up with the killer punch: “Did you realise you made an error of judgement when Village Magazine contacted you?”

It totally destroyed Tory Boy’s threadbare defence because it showed clearly the only reason he was banging on about an error of judgement was because he was caught red handed.

If it left the Tanaiste f lailing, it also exposed Mr Martin and Mr Ryan as yes men who were willing to swallow what Fianna Fail TD Marc Macsharry described as a “fairy tale” adding “Varadkar got caught and then constructed a rather elaborate backstory”.

Mr Martin was at pains to point out he was not a member of the last government when the leak took place but was willing to accept a story that few actually believe.

This whole affair smacks of someone realising they were being caught in the act of wrongdoing.

That’s not to say Leo did anything illegal, heaven forbid, as once you move above a certain level in Irish society, the line between legal and illegal gradually fizzles out to a point where it disappears.

Indeed what the then Prime Minister did was not even being described as a leak, all he did was “share” a document with his pal, according to our national broadcaster.

Sharing is where you pass around a box of sweets, not leaking documents containing the framework of an agreement that cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of euro.

He knows he broke the first and the most important rule, he got caught