The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has denounced as "terrorist" press suggestions he should discuss his private life, and vowed that he would never succumb to the "political correctness" of accepting the media's right to do so.
Speaking to Irish journalists on the fringes of the informal finance ministers' meeting in Finland, an unrepentant Mr McCreevy refused to confirm or deny that he had spent part of his holiday at Mr Ulick McEvaddy's villa in the south of France.
"The people I have known either for 10 years, 20 years or 30 years from business, gambling, holidays, men and women of all types of reputation, I intend to be seen with them, go out with them, and the only thing I'd be worried about is that some of my friends would be afraid to invite me on holidays in the future," he said. When asked initially about the alleged holiday, Mr McCreevy said: "On principle I never answer questions on anything relating to my personal affairs.
"I respect that other people feel differently on this matter. I've no problem with others feeling differently, but I am not going down that particular road. People should get a grip on themselves," he said.
The Tanaiste may have answered questions, he said, but that was a matter for her. "I accept that I'm probably in a minority of one in the way I handle these issues, but have always been vociferous inside the Dail and out about this type of bloody nonsense."
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