Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea last night defended the Minister for Justice, saying Mr McDowell had explained his actions "to my satisfaction".
"I think the explanation was very clear. And it's there now on the record, and the Minister for Justice has dealt with the matter comprehensively," Mr O'Dea said in McKee Barracks in Dublin yesterday.
"The Minister for Justice made a decision, the entire Government has endorsed that decision. So when the Minister was speaking in the Dáil last night, he wasn't speaking just for himself, he was speaking for the entire Government. He explained the matter very satisfactorily, in my view. And there it rests."
However, Mr O'Dea repeatedly declined to say whether he would use sensitive files in a similar fashion to the way Mr McDowell has used them against Mr Connolly.