The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism John O'Donoghue has criticised the publication of an interview with the journalist Terry Keane about her 27-year relationship with the late Charles Haughey.
Mr O'Donoghue said politicians had come to accept that when their private lives impinge on their public roles, they would be subject to scrutiny, which he suggested was not the case in relation to Mr Haughey's relationship with Ms Keane.
"He was buried only a couple of days ago, and then we read revelations in relation to Mr Haughey's private life which don't appear, at first glance at any note, to be any relevance to Mr Haughey's life," he said on RTÉ's Questions and Answers last night.
"I do not think that any fair-minded person would believe that it is right that the coals of his private life, following shortly after his burial, should be exposed to the public light." He said it served "no useful purpose".
Mr O'Donoghue conceded Mr Haughey had his faults. "We have ourselves stated in Fianna Fáil that we were obviously very disappointed that he received gifts of €8.5 million, or thereabouts, and paid no tax. We were also disappointed that he did not co-operate with the tribunals."
Appearing on the same programme, Labour TD Ruairí Quinn criticised the decision by Ireland on Sunday and the Irish Daily Mail to publish extracts from the interview with Ms Keane."I think it was sordid and demeaning of Terry Keane herself, and frankly of the newspaper and the editorial decision made by the newspaper, to publish the interview."
Nell McCafferty said that if the private behaviour of a public figure was a contradiction of publicly expressed principles, the person should be exposed.