Varadkar rejects suggestions he and Coveney should resign over Zappone controversy

“I don’t think [the work of government] has been overshadowed. This is certainly a shadow but I don’t think it is overshadowing the work,” he said.

He also said that it would be "very unfair" that the Freedom of Information officer who failed to release the text messages to journalists were to face any sanction.

“That FOI officer doesn't work with the department anymore. There won't be any sanctions,” he said.

“As I think it's been explained by my department, is the FOI officer did their job, looked at the emails, looked at the paper records didn't find anything, because I was away and my senior staff were away, I wasn't asked whether I had any messages on my phone. So that's what happened. An honest oversight. I don't think there should be any consequences for an official who did their job, that would be very unfair,” he said.

But what we will do in the department is to make sure that, you know, we put procedures in place that it doesn't happen again.

Explaining his reason for publishing the texts, Mr Varadkar said he did so following journalist queries at a press conference on Tuesday, and having checked his records, he considered it the prudent thing to do.

“From my point of view, I think I have dealt with this matter. I set out very clearly what my involvement was in this appointment which did not take place at the end of the day. I have published all the records that I have which I believe verify my account.

"I was only in contact with Simon Coveney on one occasion on this matter and this was essentially the query that you see. He informed me that a memo would go to Cabinet. That is the normal way these things happen and a memo did go to Cabinet. It was on the agenda the Friday before the meeting.

"What didn’t happen and it should have happened and I have acknowledged this some weeks ago, either he or I should have flagged this appointment to minister Ryan and the Taoiseach because it was potentially politically sensitive.

"In the past, special envoys were appointed without even going to Cabinet. But this one was politically sensitive and it was a mistake on my part on his part, that one of us didn't flag this to the leader of the Green Party and the Taoiseach. 

"I acknowledge that mistake weeks ago, and apologize for it," he said.

Mr Varadkar said he does not accept the accusation that this was a crony appointment of an insider.

“I don’t accept that accusation at all. And it's the normal procedure that when the appointment goes to Cabinet, that it is flagged to the leaders in advance in a coalition. No party leader should be surprised at a Cabinet meeting. We acknowledged that a number of weeks ago.

“I think I think Sinn Féin accusing anyone of cronyism is interesting,” he said in response to comments from Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald this morning.

He said in the past that special envoys were just appointed by the Taoiseach and they were just appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

“There was no process at all. But the difficulty here is that it was politically sensitive because it involves somebody who had been a Cabinet minister. We should have seen that and identified that earlier, and made sure that we flagged it up,” he said.

Simon Coveney is to write to the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee to make himself available to address lingering questions on the Zappone affair. 

Amid continued controversy over his changing story, Mr Coveney has signalled that his department will also release documents relating to the creation of the UN Special Envoy role and how Ms Zappone came to be appointed.