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

Much of that is very fair comment. There is certainly no sense that we are trying to trivialise anything.

It was an important process. When the phone call took place though, the Minister's element of that process had not begun. That is the point I am making. He did not have any inside knowledge one way or the other and did not even know that the CCPC had made a ruling, which had been published on its website the previous day.

It would have been much better if the conversation had not taken place. The Minister regrets it; we all do. However, that is different from saying he gave a steer on his intended course of action. He said there was a likelihood that it might be referred to the BAI, but he also said definitively that he would follow the advice of his officials on any decision he would make.

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