The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, admitted yesterday evening that his wife and children were in his ministerial car when it was stopped for speeding, despite saying earlier that he could not say who was in the car.
Speaking in Killarney yesterday afternoon, he had said he could not say who was in the car because he was "constrained".
Later on RTE Radio 1, Mr O'Donoghue said that members of his family and a family friend were in the car. "It appears that on September 10th I wasn't actually in the car myself. That weekend - as you know I live a long way from Dublin - my wife and family came up as a treat for the All-Ireland hurling final and we attended the game that afternoon.
"Then what happened was I had to remain in Dublin because of the fact that I had business in the Department of Justice the following day, September 11th, and they actually went home."
The Minister said on RTE: "I want to say immediately I am not in any way now trying to absolve myself from any responsibility in respect of this matter . . . It is a car which has been allocated to me. I am responsible for it and I am responsible for the driver, and I accept fully any responsibility in relation to incidents concerning the vehicle."
Mr O'Donoghue said it was unusual for his wife and children to use his car in this manner. "The car, as you probably well know, is used on the vast majority of occasions, to say the very least of it, by me for official business. On this particular occasion, and it happens very occasionally, it was used to bring my wife and children home. I suppose the situation is that I live so far away from Dublin that this can obviously pose difficulties at times."
He said other Ministers had used their cars in a similar way. "It has been used by other Ministers of all parties in the past in precisely the same way."
Mr O'Donoghue said he regretted the incident. "I was speaking to the driver and the driver tells me that he took his mind off the driving and, unfortunately, he went over the limit," he said.
"I'm not in any way saying I condone speeding by myself or anybody else . . . The car itself is a Garda car and it is, as you know, exempt from the speed limits," he added.
Speaking in Killarney, he said he was not aware of any occasion when safety was compromised in his ministerial car. "I am acutely aware of the fact speed on our roads does cause death . . . No Minister is above the law. I am not above the law, nobody else is above the law," he added.
Mr O'Donoghue said the cars were maintained and driven to the highest standards.