Marc MacSharry has told Fianna Fáil headquarters that he is "deeply upset and offended" that the parliamentary party was told last night that "an issue had arisen" preventing his planned return to the party.
In a letter to the party today, he said that many who attended that meeting "assumed that a very serious issue of wrongdoing or grossly inappropriate behaviour had arisen".
"Some colleagues have informed me that they assumed that, such was the cryptic and serious nature of the Chief Whip's comments, that I was being subjected to a criminal investigation," the letter stated.
The Sligo-Leitrim TD strongly believes the motion to readmit him to the Parliamentary Party should have proceeded as had been agreed the previous week.
He said that he assumes the "issue" referred to at the meeting was a complaint arising from comments made in a "private WhatsApp group".
In his letter, he said there was no "reasonable basis" to suggest that two private messages on a WhatsApp group, established by him to communicate with Fianna Fáil Councillors in his constituency, could be viewed as bullying.
"It is not bullying to criticise other elected Fianna Fáil representatives. I have repeatedly been subjected to criticism by other Fianna Fáil representatives and I fully respect their entitlement to criticise me," he wrote.
He added that the use of expletives in discussions with colleagues is not bullying and if it is "then political debate will be totally curtailed."
Mr MacSharry wants the matter clarified at next week's Fianna Fáil's meeting in Leinster House along with his return to the parliamentary party.
Earlier, Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers said he "would not speculate" on any issues related to Mr MacSharry being readmitted to the party.
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Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said: "We weren't in a position to progress the motion at last night's parliamentary party and it's something we hope could be revisited soon."
Asked about reports that a complaint from outside the parliamentary party has been made against Mr MacSharry, he said that he was "not going to speculate on that, and it wouldn't be fair to speculate or state either way what the matter involves".
