Taoiseach and Tánaiste unaware Stephen Donnelly lost access to emails in cybersecurity breach

Health Minister says he did not get important correspondence from department secretary general Robert Watt due to breach

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and Tánaiste Micheál Martin were responding after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly (left) revealed he could not access emails in March 2022.  File picture: Julien Behal/PA

The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have said they were completely unaware that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly lost access to his emails last year during a technical sweep for cybersecurity breaches.

Mr Donnelly said he could not use his emails due to the security checks in March 2022, and, as a result, he never received important correspondence — now at the centre of a Government controversy — from Department of Health secretary-general Robert Watt.

Mr Watt said he had tried to contact Mr Donnelly about €2m in annual funding linked to the botched secondment of former chief medical officer Tony Holohan to Trinity College.

An external review of the process found there was a lack of formal consultation by Mr Watt with the Taoiseach, minister for health, and the Department of Public Expenditure, and that the proposed funding of €2m bypassed accepted protocols.

Mr Donnelly said he “had to be vague” about the particulars of the security checks, but confirmed he had been unable to access his emails for “about a week” while he was in Texas on a St Patrick’s Day trip.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was not aware that his cabinet colleague had been denied access to emails.  

“I wasn’t aware of that, and I’ve only been made aware of it in the last couple of days," he said.  

I’m not exactly sure if it was his phone or his laptop, or what the details of that were, but obviously any hack or cyberattack on Government has to be investigated.

Mr Varadkar said that if Mr Donnelly was asked to attend the finance committee, which is investigating the circumstances surrounding Dr Holohan’s appointment to a €187,000 per annum position in Trinity College, he would do so.

“I’ve never heard of a cabinet minister refusing to go before a committee so I’m sure if he’s invited, he will attend,” Mr Varadkar said.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who was on his own trip to the US at the time, said he first became aware of the security breach this week.

Mr Martin said he had not heard of the issues with Mr Donnelly’s emails and had only found out about it “the other day”.

Mr Varadkar, meanwhile, said the Government expects Mr Watt to carry out the findings of the external review into Dr Holohan’s secondment. Appearing before an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday, Mr Watt strongly rejected parts of the report put to him by TDs, and was accused of being “arrogantly dismissive”.

Asked whether Mr Watt’s handling of the matter was damaging to the working of Government, Mr Varadkar said it was not. He said: 

When I talk to voters, when I talk to constituents, they’re not talking about this issue.

“They’re talking about job security, they’re talking about traffic, they’re talking about housing, they’re talking about healthcare, and how we should invest more in healthcare, which is exactly what we’re doing here.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “In March 2022 [during the St Patrick’s Day trip to the US] Minister Donnelly and his officials were advised not to use their devices — particularly for email — due to concerns about a cybersecurity risk.”