Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He said this morning that he does sincerely regret expressing a view on it, but he is absolutely clear that he said he would abide by the recommendation of his officials. The Deputy's claim that he gave an indication of how he would proceed needs to be put in the context that he made it clear he would proceed on the basis of the recommendations from the Department and the officials. He gave a view that there was a likely scenario that this would be referred to the BAI because of the significance of the merger, which caused plenty of public commentary at the time. He did not say anything that was new. He was stating the obvious.

I do not believe that the conversation should have taken place in the first place. The Minister accepts that too and regrets it but that is very different from making a claim that the Minister gave information that was inappropriate at the time. I do not believe he did. He said he would be acting on the advice of the officials. He gave a view that it was likely this would be referred to the BAI, no more than that.

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