The former Minister of State, Mr Bobby Molloy, insisted last night that he never made any suggestion or request that the Connemara man imprisoned this week for raping his daughter be released pending his trial.
In a statement, Mr Molloy said he was only seeking replies to queries raised by the man's sister, Ms Anne Naughton. "She was seeking information on the legal process and I forwarded her queries to the Department of Justice as is standard practice in such cases.
"On the first occasion (March 13th, 2001), I forwarded her letter to the Department of Justice for reply on the issues she raised.
"On the second occasion (November 6th, 2001), I forwarded queries by her to the Department of Justice as follows: Did her brother have to remain in prison until his appeal was heard or could he be released and report to the gardaí as previously; why had her brother been imprisoned before sentence had been passed; and how long the appeal process would take and when it was likely that the case would be heard by the courts.
"On the third occasion (January 31st, 2001), I forwarded further correspondence received from her to the Department of Justice and enquired on her behalf, the likely appeal date."
In Dún Laoghaire last night, where she attended the launch of Ms Fiona O'Malley's election campaign, the leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, said she was not aware until yesterday of all the correspondence which had passed between Mr Molloy and the Department of Justice. However, she still did not regret her decision not to immediately call on Mr Molloy to resign on Tuesday.
"I was not going to call publicly for Bobby Molloy's resignation. That would have effectively been sacking him. I wasn't going to sack somebody that had given 37 years of public service. He has made a mistake in this instance and he regrets that very much and he has paid a very high price for the mistake. He is suffering greatly as a result of what happened."
However she said she regretted very much the exchange of letters. "It shouldn't have happened. It was insensitive and I regret it very much and I want to apologise to the victim in this particular case for the pain and ongoing suffering as a result of this controversy. I hope that we can put it behind us so that she can get on with her life."
Ms Harney said it was unfortunate Mr Molloy got so involved "in the case of this constituent and that he kept passing on what she was saying to him to the Minister for Justice". He was "far too efficient, foolishly efficient on behalf of a single person. That's the lesson that we can draw from this."
She stressed Mr Molloy was not trying to get temporary release for Mr Naughton.
"He was saying that his sister was trying to get temporary release. He was passing on this man's sister's views. I think he was foolish and unwise to do that."
Ms Harney said she felt the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, had acted honourably. She did not believe her party's image had been irreparably tarnished by the controversy. "I think people are fair. This was a mistake that was made."
Mr O'Donoghue said yesterday he was astounded at the remarks made by former ministers for justice regarding his handling of communications from Mr Molloy relating to the case.
Speaking at the Garda College in Templemore, he denied it was unusual for department staff to contact judges and said such suggestions were a misrepresentation of the true position made "for purely political purposes". Officials well understood they were not to discuss cases, he said.
"The reality of the situation is we cannot conduct business in a cocoon and judges cannot be excluded from discussion with officials in the Department of Justice."