Minister of State Niall Collins has for the first time publicly stated that he knew his wife was interested in buying public land in Co Limerick when a meeting he attended agreed to put the site on the open market.
Bruff Local Electoral Area council agreed to begin the process of selling the land at a meeting in January 2007 which Mr Collins attended in a role as a Limerick county councillor at the time.
This followed expressions of interest in the site.
The junior minister has insisted that he did not break any law but reiterated that - with the benefit of hindsight - he should have recused himself from the meeting.
The decision to sell the land was taken by the full council meeting late in 2008 following an open sales process.
At this point, Mr Collins was no longer part of the council having been elected to the Dáil in May 2007.
He also said his wife was at one point going to purchase the land with another buyer but they "dropped out" and she then purchased it on her own.
The Limerick TD said he was never part of any attempt to buy the land with his wife.
The minister answered a series of questions on the controversy outside Government Buildings today but defended his decision not to take Dáil questions on the matter after he made a statement in the chamber last month.
Mr Collins said he is happy to answer Dáil questions on his ministerial duties but it is not up to the Opposition to interrogate him on this issue.
That is for another forum and is now in train, he said, in what was a reference to a complaint People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy has made to the Standards In Public Office Commission (SIPO).
Minister Collins also answered questions on a separate controversy surrounding the planning application for his home.
He declined to answer where he was living when that application was made, having stated on the planning form that he was living in his parents' home.
But he did own a home in Dooradoyle in Limerick city at this point.
Mr Collins said he fulfilled the planning criteria but would not "go into" his living arrangements in 2001.
He added that he was "at a loss" as to how an advertisement relating to a planning application appeared in a Limerick newspaper under the name 'Niall O'Connor.'
This advertisement did not form part of the planning file.
That file did include a notice from a newspaper under the name Niall Collins.
Mr Collins said today that the council had fully "interrogated" the planning application at the time.
