Gardaí are examining an official complaint lodged about the leaking of a GP contract by then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
A statement to The Irish Examiner confirmed: "An Garda Síochána has received correspondence which is currently being assessed to determine what if any Garda action is required.
“An Garda Síochána has no further comment at this time.”
It is believed the complaint about Mr Varadkar was made before Christmas and interviews have been carried out to assess its validity.
A spokesman for the Tánaiste told The Examiner that Mr Varadkar had not been contacted by gardaí and his office was not aware of any investigation.
Mr Varadkar admitted last year that he posted a copy of a contract negotiated between the then-government and the Irish Medical Organisation to rival GP group, the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), headed by his friend Maitiú Ó Tuathail.
Mr Varadkar apologised for his actions in the Dáil in November after he was accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act and breaking the law.
“There was nothing selfish, corrupt, dishonest or illegal in what I did,” he said.
Correspondence released this week by Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty, under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that then-minister for health Simon Harris, who was responsible for the negotiations, was unable to obtain the document at the time due to its sensitivity.
In response, Mr Varadkar said the document shared with Dr Ó Tuathail was an earlier version of the agreement that had been publicly referenced and not the updated copy that Mr Harris was seeking at a later date.
Explanation 'in tatters'
During testy exchanges in the Dáil on Thursday, Mr Doherty accused Mr Varadkar of changing his story about the leak, claiming that his explanation for his actions was now “in tatters”.
Mr Varadkar insisted that all the important details of the agreement were already known when he sent the document to Dr Ó Tuathail.
He said his motivation was to convince the NAGP to back the deal, which it did.
“The office of an Taoiseach was used to pull a stroke for a friend,” Mr Doherty said.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said that the leak had been an “act of corruption and abuse” of office.
He said that the details of the emails published in recent days “rebut the defence mustered by Varadkar, and show his answers in the Dáil were dishonest and disingenuous”.
Meanwhile, Rise TD Paul Murphy said he would press the standards watchdog on a complaint he made about Mr Varadkar before Christmas.
