During his time as Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar was aware of allegations that an Irish politician was working for the Russians, and it has come to light that he believed them. A person close to Mr. Varadkar told the Irish Mirror, “He was aware of the accusations and thought they were true,” reports The Mirror.
The source revealed that Mr. Varadkar, who served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from December 2022 to March 2024, was aware of the name of the alleged spy, one week after shocking claims surfaced that a Russian spy was operating in our parliament.
The source did, however, also attest that Mr. Varadkar was informed about the suspected spy informally rather than formally, reports The Mirror.
He learnt about it informally rather than being formally informed by the Garda Commissioner or the Chief of Staff for the Defence Forces. In the last year, and most certainly before to his resignation as Taoiseach in March, he was informed about it.
We know that an official provided the then-Taoiseach with an informal briefing about the suspected spy. The Sunday Times, which broke the news, dubbed the spy Agent Cobalt.
He was not formally briefed on him, which is similar to what occurred to Tánaiste Micheal Martin. When Cobalt was allegedly already being recruited by Russia and discovered by intelligence agencies, Mr. Martin was Taoiseach in late 2020, reports The Mirror.
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On Tuesday, Mr. Martin informed The Dail that he was unsure of the name of the suspected spy. In response to a query posed by Aontú leader Peadar Toibin, Mr. Martin stated that he was “never told and never briefed that there was a spy in the Oireachtas” and that he was taoiseach on the dates of the alleged conduct mentioned.
“I’m actually very surprised at the degree to which everybody herd-like have just grabbed on the story and said, ‘who is the person’,” he said, reports The Mirror.
“I’m absolutely amazed. There is a more fundamental question to be asked, which I am going to ask as Minister for Defence because as Minister for Defence I have never received a security briefing saying there is a spy in the Oireachtas,” reports The Mirror.
According to a source close to Mr. Varadkar, he was also not formally told, but he was aware of Cobalt, reports The Mirror.
The source said: “Leo is in the same boat as Michael Martin, but maybe he had a bigger grapevine. Micheal was obviously a bit irked by it…but obviously he wasn’t (briefed),” reports The Mirror.
The source close to the former Taoiseach said: “He does believe it to be true. He thinks it is more a case of a useful idiot than a spy. It was an informal briefing, the Commissioner or Chief did not sit him down to tell him about this. It was not that yer man ever did any harm or had access to any state secrets. He knew about the allegations and believed them to be credible. But it is important to stress that Leo knew the person had no access to security files. He was a useful idiot more so an effective spy,” reports The Mirror.
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