A member of the Cabinet says he did follow up on a report brought to him about failures in care services for intellectually disabled people in the South East.

Leo Varadkar says when he was health minister a whistle-blower brought a so-called 'protected disclosure' to him and the then Junior Health Minister, Kathleen Lynch.

Mr Varadkar says he met the person. He added that senior officials in the HSE and the Department of Health followed up on the document, with the appointment of a Senior Council to examine the issues.

Minister Varadkar is defending his actions: