Mr Desmond O'Malley has said he had no involvement in or knowledge of the changing of a statement of a key witness before the Arms Trial of 1970.
In a statement last night he said that he "did not engage in altering anybody's evidence nor did I approve of or condone anyone else doing so". Through a spokesman he also told The Irish Times that he neither had nor has any knowledge of the affair.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has said that the files in his Department "cast no further light on the substance of the allegations" made in the Prime Time programme.
He told the Dail last night that he would examine the matter further and report back to the House when in a position to do so.
Fine Gael and Sinn Fein yesterday called for an inquiry into the evidence that a statement by a former head of military intelligence, Col Michael Hefferon, was heavily edited in advance of the Arms Trial.
An RTE Prime Time programme on Tuesday night produced documentation showing that 16 alterations had been made to the Colonel's original statement before it was forwarded to the then Attorney General, Mr Colm Condon, for inclusion on the book of evidence.
Mr Condon could not be contacted for comment yesterday. However he told the programme that he had no knowledge of the original statement and was only aware of the version he was given for inclusion in the book of evidence.
The alterations appear to have been designed to minimise the involvement on the then minister for defence, Mr Jim Gibbons, in the attempted arms importation which led to the trial.
Mr Gibbons was the chief prosecution witness against two ministers, Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Neil Blaney, an army intelligence officer, Capt James Kelly, a Belfast Republican, Mr John Kelly, and a Belgian businessman Mr Albert Luykx.
A Garda spokesman said yesterday he could not confirm that the version of Col Hefferon's statement revealed on Prime Time was the one taken by investigating gardai at the time. The three men involved had all retired, he said. They have been contacted by Garda headquarters and do not wish to comment on the affair, he said.
"At the time we investigated the allegations of illegal arms importation thoroughly," the spokesman said. "We submitted all statements and all aspects of that investigation to the law officers for decision."
The late Col Hefferon's son, Mr Colm Hefferon, said yesterday that the only question remaining was who made the decision to alter his father's statement. He said the family was happy at the exposition of the facts on the programme and there was little else that the family was now looking for.
The late Jim Gibbons' son, Progressive Democrat Senator Jim Gibbons, declined to comment yesterday.
In the Dail last night Fine Gael TD, Mrs Frances Fitzgerald, called for a full inquiry.
