The family of the late Fine Gael minister, Mr Hugh Coveney, has said the fact that he amended his will on the day before his death on March 14th last year should not be construed as anything sinister.
Mr Coveney (62) died during a walk along a cliff top on his own land at Robert's Cove in Cork Harbour.
He was due to have joined friends and his wife, Pauline, for a meal in the area that evening but when he did not return the alarm was raised. A full-scale search was launched and subsequently his body was found at the bottom of a steep incline.
The dog he had been walking was also found at the bottom of the cliff but survived.
Mr Coveney's son, Simon (26), who contested and won his late father's seat in Cork South Central during a by-election last October, insisted at the weekend that his father had been in good spirits before he died but that because of his meticulous attention to detail concerning his personal affairs he had simply updated his will.
It was ironic that he had done so on the day before his death, Friday, March 13th, 1998, but the family believed this was simply a coincidence.
Mr Coveney said he was aware that people might read other things into the fact that the will had been changed just hours before his father's death, but family members had no doubt that Mr Coveney was in good spirits, looking forward to his evening meal with his wife and friends, as well as a week's break on his 250-acre farm at Minane Bridge in Cork on the day he died.
Simon Coveney also dismissed suggestions that his father had been in financial difficulties and that he was worried about appearing before the Moriarty tribunal.