Sinn Féin TDs wrote to Leo Varadkar to congratulate him on his election as Taoiseach and to commend him for “hitting all the right notes” in a speech last year, newly released correspondence shows.

Despite being heavily critical of Varadkar’s government publicly, emails released by the Department of the Taoiseach strike a different tone. They show how Sinn Féin representatives regularly requested meetings with the Taoiseach to discuss the situation in...