Sipo cannot decide if complaint against Taoiseach 'is too hot to handle', court told

Paul Murphy seeks an order quashing Sipo's refusal to carry out an inquiry into Leo Varadkar’s sharing of a draft GP contract

Paul Murphy arriving at at the Four Courts in Dublin on Tuesday morning. His counsel told the court that Sipo cannot decide if a 'potato is too hot to handle' before handling it. Picture: Collins Courts

The High Court has been urged to consider what the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) “would have had to get into” if it was to further investigate a complaint by TD Paul Murphy over the Taoiseach’s sharing of a draft GP contract.

Senior counsel for the commission, Michael M Collins, told the court the complaint was “so bound up” in the constitutional exercises of the Taoiseach that it was “simply not part” of Sipo’s remit to investigate without risking interfering with the furtherance of government policy.