The deadline for the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) to challenge a critical High Court ruling on the Leo Varadkar leak case has passed without the public ethics body saying whether it will appeal the judgment.
The Sipo’s task is to promote transparency and accountability in public life. But it has had nothing to say about the ruling of Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell that quashed its decision not to investigate Mr Varadkar’s leak of a draft medical contract in his first term as taoiseach.
The judge’s ruling of June 21st started the clock on a 28-day countdown for submitting any appeal, leading to a deadline on Friday that came and went without Sipo stating its intentions.
“Due to the nature of Sipo’s role as an impartial oversight body, we are not in a position to comment on the query addressed in your email,” it said in response to questions. “We have no further comments at this time.”
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The Sipo chairman is Garrett Sheehan, retired judge of the Court of Appeal. He was “not available” when The Irish Times sought an interview on the High Court ruling.
The commission’s 2022 decision against investigating the leak split the Sipo, the first time it ever lacked unanimity for a ruling. That came after the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to bring criminal charges over the leak.
Three Sipo members voted against an investigation: Mr Sheehan, clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan and clerk of the Seanad Martin Groves. The objections of two of the State’s most senior independent officials – Comptroller and Auditor General Séamus McCarthy and Ombudsman Ger Deering – were overruled.
The successful judicial review case against the decision was taken by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy. The judge found Sipo explanations were inadequately reasoned, saying the TD could have an order requiring the commission to re-examine the case.
Mr Murphy said Sipo should quickly move to investigate. “This happened in 2019. It became public, and I complained, in 2020. We got the decision in 2022 not to investigate. It’s now the middle of 2024,” he said.
“Assuming that they do not appeal by the end of the day I think there is an onus on Sipo to now expedite this.”
He called on the Sipo to set out its assessment of the High Court ruling. “This judgment has implications beyond just the Varadkar case because this wasn’t a decision made on the facts. It was a decision based on an argument that Leo Varadkar made,” Mr Murphy said.
“I think for people to have confidence that Sipo is a body capable and interested in holding those in power to account they really need to respond to this judgment publicly.”
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