Varadkar 'in trouble' over NAGP contract says  former FG TD

Former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell said it "wouldn't sit well" with FG membership that the leader of the party is subject to a criminal investigation 

Former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell has been critical of Leo Varadkar's performance as Fine Gael leader and also believes Mr Varadkar is “in trouble” for his handling of the leaked confidential document to the National Association of General Practitioners.  Picture:Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

A former Fine Gael TD has launched a blistering attack on her leader Leo Varadkar and asked “when he’s going to start delivering for” the party.

Kate O’Connell, a Dublin TD and pharmacist who lost her seat at the 2020 election, also said she believes Mr Varadkar is “in trouble” after it emerged former Minister for Health Simon Harris told gardaí that he had refused to leak a confidential document to the now-defunct organisation the National Association of General Practitioners.

Mr Harris was interviewed by gardaí regarding their investigation into the leak of the same document by Mr Varadkar in April 2019 earlier this year according to this morning’s Sunday Times.

“I do, I don’t like seeing anybody in trouble but I do think it’s very concerning for the party,” Ms O’Connell told Brendan O’Connor on RTE Radio this morning.

“When you have the leader of the party subject to a criminal investigation it just wouldn’t sit well, in my view, with the membership of the party,” she said.

“It appears there was a confidential document leaked, I was in the Dail at the time, there was a lot of talk at the time about that contract. The fact is it was a valuable document to an organisation that wasn’t entitled to it.”

“Nobody has said that anybody has broken a law yet, that’s the job of the DPP. But in terms of the party, it is always going to be damaging. If you have the leader of a party that’s subject to a criminal investigation that can never be a positive,” Ms O’Connell said.

The former TD for Dublin Bay South, who supported Simon Coveney during his bid for the Fine Gael leadership in 2017 instead of his opponent Mr Varadkar who eventually triumphed easily, said she wonders “when Leo is going to deliver for Fine Gael”.

She said that at the time of the leadership contest Mr Varadkar’s victory had been “about gaining seats, momentum for the party, a new vision for the party”.

“I know with Covid things have gone a bit tricky, but I’d imagine people are looking at him and going ‘if there’s anything in this it will be damaging,” she said.

She added that “if there’s nothing then I think he will be fine”. 

“If somebody hasn’t actually done something wrong and that is decided by the gardaí then they’re clear, I don’t think anyone should be dragged through the newspapers in the way that is happening at the moment, unless there’s a perception that something will happen.”

“I think it’s innocent until proven guilty,” she said.