The Minister for Education Mr Dempsey said this evening that the Public Offices Commission would decide whether he breached guidelines for office holders but added that the Taoiseach was entitled to his views on the matter.
Minister Dempsey's comments came following a rebuke by the Taoiseach in the Dáil yesterday when Mr Ahern said that the distribution of information packs by the Minister for Education for electoral purposes was "wrong".
Speaking on RTÉ this evening Mr Dempsey said the Taoiseach was "entitled to express his view" on the matter but that he would have to wait on the Public Offices Commission to report on the matter before he could express his own views.
Opposition parties jumped on Mr Dempsey's earlier comments with the Labour Party's Jan O'Sullivan claiming they were a "a calculated two-finger gesture of defiance to the Taoiseach."