The Minister for Education has said that in his experience it would not be unusual for Government departments to provide the type of briefing packs his department gave to Fianna Fáil local election candidates.
But Noel Dempsey denied he had used the facilities and resources of a Government department to give his party's candidates an advantage.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, the minister said the information his department had given out was public and freely available. He said collating this information for several hundred local election candidates would not have cost a huge amount.
Mr Dempsey said he had personally given the information - which was customised to each county - to the candidates as he met them.
He dismissed as 'the greatest load of rubbish' claims by Labour's Eamon Gilmore that the information in the packs could have been used to solicit donations for the party from contractors doing building work for local schools.
Commission to examine packs
The Standards in Public Office Commission earlier confirmed that it is seeking details of the Department's provision of briefing packs for local election candidates.
A spokesman for the Commission said it would have no further comment to make until that process is complete.
It is understood that if the Commission feels that ethics rules were contravened, it could initiate a public inquiry.
The only office holder to face such an inquiry to date was the then Junior Minister Ned O'Keeffe, who resigned his position when the inquiry was announced.
Earlier today, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said he would have to examine reports that Noel Dempsey used Department funds to prepare the information packs exclusively for Fianna Fáil candidates.
Mr Ahern said that it would not be the usual position for information to go directly from the Department.
