LEO VARADKAR SAID he has been informed that he has been “cleared of any criminal wrongdoing and breaches of ethics” by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).  

It follows a decision by the DPP that the Tánaiste would not be prosecuted over the leaking of a GP contract in 2019.

Speaking this evening, Varadkar said: “Today, I was informed by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) that it would not be investigating me for any alleged breach of the Standards in Public Office or Ethics Acts. 

“I have been now cleared of criminal wrongdoing and any breach of ethics or standards.”

He added: “This is always the outcome I expected.”

Leo Varadkar previously told the Dáil he sent a copy of an agreement between the government and the Irish Medical Organisation to a rival GP group.

A file regarding the leak had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which has now directed not to prosecute.

In November 2020, the Tánaiste survived a confidence motion in the Dáil over the matter but it remained a political issue.

The matter was upgraded to a criminal investigation in March 2021.

Varadkar sent the leaked contract to GP Maitiú Ó Tuathail of the National Association of General Practitioners whom he later described as a friend but “not a close friend”.

The Tánaiste had previously described the allegations over the contract leak as “false” and “politically motivated”.

Last month, the editor of Village magazine, which revealed the GP contract leak, brought a defamation case against Leo Varadkar which is believed to remain ongoing.