In the 21 years of the existence of the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, only once has its members had a split decision, and that was in respect of the actions of the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, in leaking a confidential document to his friend. The Comptroller and Auditor General and the Ombudsman, both members of SIPO, did not accept his implication that his actions, in his then role of Taoiseach, which he judged to be appropriate, cannot be questioned by SIPO. In a podcast interview this week, the Taoiseach clearly disagreed as well with the Fine Gael leader's defence and made clear that taoisigh are not and cannot be above SIPO investigations. Considering that, what action does he plan to take in regard to his Cabinet colleague?

That was a very summarised summary of what I said on the podcast. All members of the Government are held accountable to this House primarily, under our Constitution, and we should never lose sight of that.

SIPO has made a decision on this. Every member of SIPO is equal. The Deputy's point is a new departure. I have no issue with there being transparency around the decisions of SIPO, but if we are now saying that because two of its members went one way and three went another way, the three who voted in one way are in some way inferior to the two who voted in an opposite direction, that creates real problems-----

Are taoisigh accountable to SIPO?

-----in terms of how a board is constituted. Once a person is appointed or selected onto a board, that person is duty-bound to assess every decision independently and in accordance with the criteria and understandings.

Are taoisigh accountable to SIPO?

As I said, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform today brought to Cabinet comprehensive proposals following a review of the operations of SIPO, which will come before the House in due course.