Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said today he was "young and foolish" when he smoked cannabis at college.
The Minister had admitted in an interview that there were "a couple of occasions" at UCD in the 70s when the drug was passed around and that "unlike President Clinton, I did inhale".
Asked today whether he had regretted he had any regrets about the interview in Hot Pressmagazine and about not emphasising the "possible health impacts" of cannabis, Mr Cowen replied: "I didn't ask the question. I didn't ask to be asked the question. I answered the question honestly. That's all.
Martin Cullen
"It was 30 years ago. It's not a big deal. Of course I regret being young and foolish. Maybe other people...were never young and foolish. Sorry, I was."
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin and Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, who were also present at the Fianna Fáil press conference in Dublin, were also asked had they ever smoked cannabis. They joined Cabinet colleague Willie O'Dea and Minister of State Brian Lenihan - both asked yesterday had they ever smoked the drug - in saying they hadn't.
Mr Cullen said: "I used to think that I had a mis-spent youth but I obviously had a very quiet and reserved youth...No I didn't. I never inhaled or I never tasted. Drank plenty and gave it up in my twenties - that was my youth."
And Ms Hanafin responded: "I'm the good girl who doesn't smoke or drink."
The Taoiseach said yesterday that Mr Cowen's admission that he smoked cannabis while a student was "no big deal".
Mary Hanafin
"I think as always Brian's been straight and honest that he did it. I've no big deal about it. I suppose a lot of people try it in school or in college," said Mr Ahern. He said he never tried the drug himself but that he had had plenty of pints.
In the interview published yesterday, Mr Cowen was quoted as saying: "Anybody who went to the UCD bar in the seventies and didn't get a whiff of marijuana would be telling you a lie.
"I would say there were a couple of occasions when it was passed around and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale," he added.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said yesterday he had never tried cannabis, while Mr Lenihan said he was a "very serious young man".
"I was a Scholar at Trinity College and a head boy at Belvedere College in my day, so I wasn't that type. But I saw plenty of it going on."