Mr Paddy Donegan made his remarks critical of former president Mr Cearbhall O Dalaigh in the knowledge that a soldier had been blinded while searching for IRA explosives, the House was told.
Mr O Dalaigh resigned in 1976 after Mr Donegan, who was the Fine Gael minister for defence, called him a "thundering disgrace" for referring antiterrorist legislation to the Supreme Court.
Paying tribute to his party colleague in the Dail, the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the remarks were made against a background "where a member of the Army had been blinded in a search he was undertaking of premises, where it was suspected the IRA had been hiding material".
It was important to understand, said Mr Bruton, that Mr Donegan said anything he said in a spirit of loyalty to the people for whom he was responsible in the armed services, the State and its institutions, including the President of Ireland. "It is important, when looking back on his career, to put that in its proper context."