Minister for Health Simon Harris has said he did not want to engage in personalised attacks and remarks following comments made about him by the former head of the Health Service Executive Tony O'Brien.
Mr Harris said this was not in his nature and he wanted to focus on the issues and challenges in the health service.
He was speaking at Nenagh Hospital where he was opening a €1m dedicated cataract clinic, which is expected to take 2,000 patients off waiting lists by the end of next year.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Business Post, Mr O'Brien also says the minister is obsessed with media coverage and "runs scared of headlines". He also described Mr Harris as a "frightened little boy".
Today Mr Harris said his entire approach in the CervicalCheck issue was his concern for the women impacted.
He said he took great appreciation from the comments of Vicky Phelan this morning, where she spoke of her dealings with him as minister.
He said he will never apologise for asking difficult questions and for holding people to account - he said that is his job, to speak up and out for patients.
Mr Harris said the CervicalCheck controversy was a very difficult time for everybody and his main concern is for the women impacted and their families.
He said the women also wanted to know about the future of the screening programme.
"My feelings about it did not matter".
He said he wished Mr O'Brien and his family well, and thanked him for his work for the health service. He said his focus was on doing his job as Minister for Health.
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Earlier, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee said he does not accept claims by the former head of the HSE that the PAC can behave like a "kangaroo court".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Seán Fleming said that exchanges can be "robust" but those who come before the PAC "with their homework done" get on very well.
However, he added, it can cause problems when those who are responsible for budgets of "billions of taxpayers money" come before the committee and do not provide answers.
Mr Fleming accepted that some people can speak aggressively at the committee but said that can be avoided if the information is given when the questions are asked.
Mr Fleming said the PAC would be "utterly failing" in its job if it was not testing people who were not answering the questions put to them and providing requested information.
He said Mr O'Brien's interview with the Sunday Business Post was more about politics than the health service.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that on balance Mr O'Brien was a good public servant who gave the country some service.
But he said people must not forget the circumstances under which he stepped down as HSE chief and that it was because of the HSE's "very bad handling" of the CervicalCheck controversy.
Mr Varadkar also defended the Minister for Health pointing to his achievements in the last six months - bringing through the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment and bringing the Public Health Alcohol Bill into law.
He said that anything Minister Harris may lack in terms of experience or age, he makes up for in commitment and compassion.
