Minister Varadkar completely rejected the suggestion there was anything criminal in what he did but admitted it wasn't good practice.
He said his motives were to inform the NAGP of negotiations that would impact them and to get buy in for the contract deal reached.
The Tánaiste said access to that did not confer any commercial advantage to the NAGP as most of the detail was in the public domain.
However, he admitted deciding to share the document without telling anyone else in government was not appropriate:
"I do accept that the provision of the agreement by informal communicational channel to the President of the NAGP in the way that I did was not good practice," he said.
"I regret that I did not ensure that it was provided in a more appropriate formal manner it was an error and one that I accept sole responsibility for," he added.
"I know it had caused people to question my judgement but I hope having heard my explanation no fair minded person will question my motivation or integrity".
