Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said “Last November we said that Leo Varadkar should have been sacked by Micheál Martin for a blatant abuse of power while he was Taoiseach and everything that has happened since then has proven that we were correct.”

Ms. McDonald said:

“Last November we tabled a motion of no confidence in the Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar because we believed that he should have been sacked and everything that has happened since then has proven that we were correct.  

“He has only remained in office because Fianna Fáil, the Greens and a number of independents are keeping him there.

“He gave a cock and bull story to the Dáil last November and has been forced to change his story repeatedly as more and more information has come to light.  

“He told the Dáil that the confidential document was already in the public domain – that is not true, the Health Minister couldn’t even get the document at the time. 

“He told the Dáil that he had received a copy of the document from the Department of Health. However, there are no records as to how he got it and he has changed his story since then.

“This was a political stroke, pure and simple. It was an abuse of power by the then Taoiseach designed to give advantage to a friend. This was about doing favours for insiders. Politically this can’t be tolerated.

“The whole matter is now being investigated by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Gardaí need to be allowed to do their job.

“However our position remains as it was in November. The Fine Gael leader needs to go.”