Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin has said he no longer stands over comments he made suggesting the chief economist at the Department of Finance should be fired.
In a statement this evening, Mr Ó Broin said his comments made last month at a festival in Roscommon were "ill judged off the cuff" remarks made during a conversation on the housing crisis.
He said he was "deeply frustrated" at the advice given to government, but that he does not believe the individual who gave the advice should resign.
The Irish Daily Mail reported that Mr Ó Broin suggested that John McCarthy, a senior civil servant at the Department of Finance should be sacked because of his advice to the government on housing policy.
Mr Ó Broin's comments were made in an interview at the Night and Day music festival in Roscommon last month.
In response to the question of whether he stood over the comments he said: "No, it was an ill judged off the cuff comment made during a conversation on the housing crisis.
"I was deeply frustrated with advice given to government that they should not increase investment in housing.
"At a time when an ever growing number of people can not access affordable homes, and increased investment in social and affordable housing is required to ensure those people can access affordable homes, such ill conceived advice is a contributory factor to the housing crisis.
"I don't believe the individual who gave the advice should be sacked. But I also don't believe he should be informing Government housing policy."
Earlier today Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell said Mr Ó Broin's comments were "another worrying attempt to silence critics and suppress public debate".
"Threats to fire people is simply unacceptable and sends the message that Sinn Féin, if they were in Government, would attempt to suppress debate and discourage people who do not agree with their approach from challenging them," Mr Farrell said.
Reporting by Elayne Devlin and Justin McCarthy
