Leo Varadkar said 'I did not commit any crime' during US trip in relation to leaked file

Gardaí investigating the incident have passed a case file on to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who will now make a decision as to whether anyone should face criminal charges.

Mr Varadkar was commenting in public for the first time since the DPP received the file, while speaking to reporters on a trade mission in California.

He said: "I am very pleased that the garda investigation is now over. It was a very long and thorough one and at the end of it, there was no recommendation that there should be any charges.

"The matter is now with the DPP and we await a decision,"  he said, according to RTÉ this evening.

"I did not commit any crime, I did not do anything corrupt, in fact I did not do anything self-interested and when this is over I think that will be clear to any reasonable person.

Mr Varadkar said he did not want to “say anything that could be interpreted as me putting pressure on the DPP in any way".

Gardaí passed the file to the DPP following a lengthy investigation by detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI).

Mr Varadkar  was under investigation over the April 2019 leaking of a confidential copy of a document outlining the details of the Government’s proposed GP contract with the Irish Medical Organisation to his friend Dr Ó Tuathail, who was then head of a rival organisation, the National Association of General Practitioners.