Varadkar between ‘rock and hard place’ on Bailey report - Minister

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is “between a rock and a hard place” in relation to the Maria Bailey compensation claim controversy, the Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty has said.

She said she did not know whether there was pressure on Mr Varadkar to publish a report into the issue which has been compiled by senior counsel David Kennedy and sent to the Taoiseach.

“The report is nothing to do with me, so I don’t know what is in it. I think he (the Taoiseach)s caught between a rock and a hard place because he got the review done so that he could assess and maybe make decisions and obviously he will have to do that,” Ms Doherty said on RTE’s The Week in Politics.

She said that at the same time, the wishes of those who participated on the condition of anonymity had to be respected.

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Fine Gael asked Mr Kennedy to “establish all the facts” around Ms Bailey’s now withdrawn action against the Dean Hotel in Dublin, where she alleged she had suffered injuries after falling from a swing in the hotel bar in July 2015.

Speaking previously about the fall from the swing, Ms Bailey said she wanted her medical expenses reimbursed.

She said that when the incident happened, she had a bottle of beer in her hand while she was on the swing and was reaching for a friend’s bottle of wine.

Mr Varadkar met with Ms Bailey last week and they are expected to have a further conversation before the Taoiseach makes a statement on the issue this week. He said some people spoke to David Kennedy on the condition the report would not be published and he did not want to override that.