The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said yesterday he had not asked anyone to lobby on his behalf to retain his portfolio in the new Government because he was confident of being reappointed.
"I never asked anyone to approach Bertie Ahern on my behalf because the Taoiseach had more or less intimated to me that myself and Micheál Martin would be back on the team, less than 48 hours after the election," he said.
The Minister was speaking against the backdrop of a growing political row in which it was being alleged that the Taoiseach was lobbied by Mr Dermot Desmond, Mr John Magnier, Mr Denis Brosnan and other business people involved in the bloodstock and food processing world, to reappoint Mr Walsh as Minister.
"I thought that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had dealt fully with this issue on radio when he was questioned about it and he said that approaches from Mr Desmond were rubbish," said Mr Walsh.
He said he did not ask or engage anyone at any time to make representations to the Taoiseach on his behalf. "Knowing the Taoiseach, I suspect that any such representations would have been counter-productive," he said.
The Minister said he would assume people might offer advice to the Taoiseach about how well or otherwise Cabinet members were doing. He did not know if anyone had offered advice to the Taoiseach about him.
"If someone had approached me and said they were going to lobby for me I would have asked them not to do so," he said.
On his relationship with Mr Desmond, Mr Walsh said he had met Mr Desmond on a number of occasions but did not know him well and certainly had not asked him or anyone else to lobby on his behalf.
Mr Walsh said media reports that he had been called to the Taoiseach's office last Wednesday and told he had been sacked were completely without foundation.
He said that on last Wednesday he had watched the Ireland-Germany World Cup game with members of his staff and had later travelled to Leopardstown racecourse for an evening meeting and from there had gone to dinner in Shelbourne Park.
"A person who had just been sacked would be unlikely to be celebrating like that, would they?" he asked.
Mr Walsh said he had been told by the Taoiseach prior to his appointment that Mr Éamon Ó Cuív would be taking charge of rural development.
He said reports that the bloodstock industry wanted to keep him in his post as Minister had to be questioned because that industry was now being looked after by Mr Donaghue, the Minister with responsibility for Sport and Tourism.
He said he could not feel compromised or beholding to anyone who might have lobbied on his behalf because he had not asked anyone to do so.
"I was reappointed because the Taoiseach felt I was doing a good job and he needed someone with experience to deal with the many issues that are coming up," he said.
He said that in addition to the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy, there were negotiations to be faced in the World Trade talks and the presidency of the EU was also coming in a short time.