The Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, refused to release a controversial consultant's report on the closure of a home economics college last year to a Fianna Fáil colleague.
However, Mr Dempsey yesterday said he had "no hand, act or part" in the separate decision to withhold information about the report under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Information Commissioner, Ms Emily O'Reilly, had overruled and severely criticised the Department of Education for refusing to release the information.
In a letter to his party colleague Mr Barry Andrews TD, of December 4th, 2003, Mr Dempsey said he would not be releasing the report into the future of St Catherine's College of Education for Home Economics. "I am not making the consultant's report available at this stage as I believe that access to it could have a significant adverse effect on the performance by my Department in its functions relating to management, including industrial relations.
"Furthermore, it could disclose positions taken, or to be taken . . . for the purpose of any negotiations carried on, or being, or to be, carried on by, or on behalf of, my Department."
A spokesperson for the Minister said the letter to Mr Andrews was written about one month after the FOI decision. The content of the letter simply reflected the views of the officials in the FOI unit. The spokesperson said the wording of the letter was almost identical to that used in the original FOI ruling.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Dempsey said the decision not to release the report under the FOI, which recommended that the college be incorporated into one of the Dublin-based third-level colleges, was made by officials in his Department and not by him. He defended his decision to close the college and to transfer its students to St Angela's College in Sligo.
Although he admitted he had received representations from party colleagues, he denied it had influenced his decision. "The consultant who made the report says in his report . . . that taking value for money into consideration, the most economical option from a capital expenditure point of view is to relocate to St Angela's.
"I felt rather than having two classes of 50 students in two separate locations in Ireland, I felt that one class of 100 students in the north-west of the country was a better option and better educationally as well."
The president of St Catherine's, Ms Madeleine Mulrennan, said yesterday she did not believe the cost argument was valid. "I think the report stands up, and I think the recommendations of the Department of Education and Science's own officials stand up."
Labour Party spokeswoman on Education Ms Jan O'Sullivan called on Mr Dempsey to explain the attempted cover-up of documents. She said he should explain why, in the face of a mountain of advice to the contrary, he announced a plan to close Sion Hill [St Catherine's\] and transfer the school to St Angela's in Sligo.
"These revelations are very alarming. They show that Minister Dempsey completely ignored advice from his own officials."
Green Party Education spokesman Mr Paul Gogarty said this was not the first time complaints had been made about the Department suppressing information.