The Taoiseach has said he regrets if he struck a tone that sounded adversarial in relation to concerns raised about mortuary services at University Hospital Waterford.
Leo Varadkar said he always encouraged people to bring forward concerns to management which is the appropriate and right thing to do.
He repeated there were differing accounts in Waterford and he had no reason to doubt the veracity of any of them.
The Taoiseach said it is accepted that the mortuary building is substandard and the tendering process to build a new one will get under way this year.
Sinn Féin TD for Waterford David Cullinane has called for a full independent inquiry into claims made by consultants at UHW that dead bodies were left decomposing on hospital trolleys at the hospital.
"If it was the case that bodies were decomposing on trolleys or left on the floor of a mortuary, that is a scandal that cannot be left go unanswered," he said.
Mr Cullinane said a full independent inquiry is needed to establish exactly what happened and if it has happened anywhere else.
He said that anyone who has lost a loved one would hope that their remains would be treated properly and families are treated with dignity.
"If it was the case that bodies were decomposing on trolleys or left on the floor of a mortuary, that is a scandal that cannot be left go unanswered."
Mr Cullinane said he has no problem with the Taoiseach saying the main priority is that the new mortuary at the hospital is built.
But he added: "He cannot brush under the carpet what did happen and what was alleged to have happened. That and these claims need to be properly examined and verified".
Meanwhile, a Health Information and Quality Authority spokesman has said its powers do not extend to mortuaries.
He added that statutory investigations are undertaken following a request from the Minister for Health or the board of HIQA and no such request has been received.
Additional reporting Conor McMorrow, Louise Byrne
