Fianna Fáil Mayo TD Lisa Chambers has said it was "entirely normal" for her to be sitting in a colleague's seat in the Dáil when a vote was taking place.
She was responding to a newspaper report claiming Dáil footage shows seven votes being recorded in Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley's seat while she sat there.
The votes took place on 17 January.
Mr Dooley has told RTÉ News he was "present in the chamber" on the date when the footage showed the votes being recorded in his seat while Ms Chambers sits in his place.
The Sunday Independent has reported that recordings from 17 January show Ms Chambers in Mr Dooley's seat during almost 50 minutes of Dáil votes.
In a comment issued to RTÉ's This Week Ms Chambers said her colleague Timmy Dooley has confirmed that he was in the Dáil chamber at the time of the vote, and that it was "entirely normal" for her to be sitting in Mr Dooley's seat.
"Timmy has confirmed he was in the chamber like everyone else. This is no different to the multiple Government ministers and TDs across the house who have had votes recorded for them while they were not in their seats and elsewhere in the chamber, even the Taoiseach said he has voted for others."
"On the day in question you can see many other TDs were in different seats, this was entirely normal and people moved throughout the voting block, so I am unsure why I am being singled out in this regard."
"This was a common occurrence across the House and has now been cleared up by the Ceann Comhairle and no longer occurs.
"In my own view the Government are under pressure with the Dara Murphy scandal and attempting to deflect from that issue."
Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Dooley said that he had "checked his notes" and it was clear he was "present in the chamber for that parliamentary voting session."
She said she "inadvertently" sat in Mr Calleary's seat, which is next to her seat, and "pressed the button once in error" when he was doing a radio interview.
The committee "noted" that she admitted to voting incorrectly and "failed to correct the record with the teller", but has "apologised in the Dáil for doing so".
The report states the matter is one of "significant public importance", adding that: "The misuse of electronic voting system is a serious contravention of the ethics legislation given the adverse effects this incident has had on the maintenance of confidence in the performance of the deputy's duties by the general public."
In a statement to the Dáil last October, Ms Chambers explained what happened by saying: "I did not inform the teller at the time of the vote cast in error as I genuinely thought it was an insignificant error.
"I fully accept now that I should have done so at the time and I sincerely apologise to the House and to the public for not doing so."
