Sinn Féin tables motion of no confidence in Leo Varadkar over documents leak

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar will be subject to a motion of no confidence, which will be debated next week. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

Sinn Féin has confirmed it will table a motion of no confidence in Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

The motion will be debated in the Dáil next Tuesday and comes after a week of controversy surrounded Mr Varadkar over his passing of the IMO pay deal to the rival NAGP, then headed by his friend, Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said that the decision was made "due to the seriousness of this situation" and "the fact that the Tánaiste has faced no sanction nor has he given a credible account for his actions in providing confidential information to a friend".

"This motion will allow the Dáil to say to the people that no one is above being held to account and that there are consequences when you act as Leo Vardakar has done.

"We will be setting out very clearly that doing favours or giving preferential treatment to a circle of insiders is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated."

Within Fine Gael, the move has been called "a stunt", with TDs saying that the issue "is closed" following Mr Varadkar's appearance in the Dáil on Tuesday.

"The Tánaiste dealt with all the issues in the Dail this week," a spokesperson for Mr Varadkar said.

"This motion clearly shows that Sinn Féin isn’t interested in what actually happened. 

"They’re only interested in political mudslinging, attacking the Irish government at a time of national crisis and diverting attention from the unanswered questions about their receipt of public money in the North."