Leo Varadkar story in The Village??? - Mod Notes and banned Users in OP updated 16/05

Some posters are reversing quicker than Homer Simpson on this.

Paddy was the story when his tweets were hurting Leo, but they disown him twice as fast when he is exposed as a bully.

The tweets and gifs playbook approach will have taken a hammering as the Paddy-related ones will have been deleted.

I don't like Varadkar or Cosgrave, both are egotistical buffoons

But a question - what has the (possibly warranted) negativity over Cosgrave got to do with this? The guards are investigating regardless of what anyone thinks of Cosgrave. The document was leaked, all that remains to be established is if any laws were broken (despite my utter dislike of Varadkar I've no idea if a law was broken - I'm in no way qualified to opine). However I'm struggling to see the relevance of Cosgrave and all the sh!te being thrown at him tbh. I saw a post earlier (I think) saying it undermines his credibility - again how relevant? Is the Garda investigation hinging on anything Cosgrave said (this is a genuine question btw)

Well according to high court affidavits Paddy has two people on the books looking to smear political opponents. This would make sense since the story itself has been in The Village and the drip-feed of the investigation itself is being drawn out, allegedly because Paddy or one of the others keep changing their story.

In other words, the ongoings of Paddy Cosgrave is tied in with the Leo story...

However, its kinda clear now that Paddy has bitten off more than he can chew.

Of course the fact that he leaked the document is an issue. It's a massive issue, It shows that he cannot be trusted with confidential documents, particularly ones that are still under negotiation. Who wants a head of government to be somebody that cannot be trusted with confidential information? (A head of anything!)

Or are we supposed to try and believe that Leo was the only Taoiseach ever in the history of Ireland to realise that he could 'speed up' negotiations by sharing the documents under negotiation with the side that weren't privy to them, all the while it was perfectly acceptable thing to do, and legal.

I'd find it equally hard to understand how anybody could attempt to defend him doing so on any level.

However, it is more likely that the investigation is into not just his leaking, but to find out whether or not he benefited personally from leaking the document. As that is far more serious than just leaking them.

If Leo is cleared following the Garda investigation, then the allegations of criminal conduct made by Cosgrave, the Village Magazine and others were untrue. That could clearly have been part of a smear campaign, one that I am sure many will be proud to have been taken in by.

Except that Leo wasn't the only Taoiseach ever in the history of Ireland to realise that he could "speed up" negotiations by sharing the documents under negotiation with some who weren't privy to them, it has happened many times in other discussions with the GRA and the military representative bodies who are not part of ICTU being given access to draft documents and negotiating documents for pay agreements involving a lot more money. These examples have been alluded to in the past on this thread. There are other examples, the GFA agreement negotiations being one.

Your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. I see and have seen, from the start, absolutely no issue with the sharing of the documents as it has happened many times before. However, if Leo did benefit personally and was in receipt of corrupt payments for the sharing of the documents, then that is a much different issue. If that is what is in the Garda statements from Cosgrave and co, and it turns out to be false, what other than a smear campaign, was it? That remains speculation at this time, but well worth watching.

Why do you think I put speed up in quotation marks? I wasn't using the phrase myself, I was quoting from your completely misleading use of the phrase, which you then admit to in the next post. Well done on acknowledging your misuse of the phrase.

The sharing of the document helped the government's objective of achieving consensus across the medical profession on the document, in the same way that previous sharing of draft pay agreements helped the objective of achieving consensus across the public service and the sharing of GFA negotiating documents helped achieve buy-in to the GFA. All very similar situations.

All that's left is Paddy and Bowe's allegations of corruption in the process, and let us see where they end up.

Where has Varadkar admitted to breaking a law? Surely, you are not hanging on to that discredited argument?

This RTE story clarifies some of the clear links to this thread.

"Mr Hickey also alleged Mr Cosgrave had employed staff at the company’s expense to procure information to advance a vendetta against Tánaiste and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar."

"Mr Hickey also alleged Mr Cosgrave had improperly used company money to settle a High Court action brought against him by GP Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail."

Which other Taoiseachs have leaked confidential documents under negotiation to those not privy?

If I quote someone, then that is their statement, not mine.

You criticised a phrase I had in quotation marks, which was a quote from your post. You were, in fact, criticising yourself.

Given the jumbled thinking on display throughout this thread, that made for one of the most amusing aspects.