Sipo documents reveal deep division over Varadkar leak case

Current affairs editor Arthur Beesley joins Hugh and Pat to talk about his report on what happened inside the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) when its members considered whether to proceed with an investigation into the leaking of a document to a friend by Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.

The five Sipo commissioners were split 3:2 in favour of not investigating, the first time in the commission's history a decision was not unanimous.

The documents reveal the dissenting views of the two members, who voted to proceed with a preliminary investigation of Varadkar's behaviour in the matter and who expressed dissatisfaction with his rationalisation of events.

That the two votes were those of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG;) Seamus McCarthy and Ombudsman Ger Deering, two of the most senior independent watchdogs in the State, is an uncomfortable fact for soon-to-be Taoiseach Varadkar and Fine Gael.

Plus: Pat talks about today's instalment in the North and South series on attitudes to Irish reunification.

The latest poll shows that voters in both Northern Ireland and the Republic would want the model of a future united Ireland to be clear before they voted on the issue in any referendum - but the two jurisdictions differ in which model they prefer.

North and South is a collaboration between The Irish Times and ARINS, which is a joint research project of the Royal Irish Academy and the Keough-Naughton Centre for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

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