Independent TD Michael Lowry has said the two-fingered gesture he made to another politician in the Dáil has been "taken out of context", adding that it was "not intended to be offensive or to cause offence".
Mr Lowry, a TD for Tipperary, was shown to have made a gesture towards People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy across the floor of the Dáil yesterday afternoon. He had insisted he was just beckoning Mr Murphy to come over for a chat.
In a statement this afternoon, he said it was "not made with malicious intent".
"I made an errant gesture under provocation," he said.
"Unlike others, I have always respected the rules and values of the Dáil.
"My gesture was not intended to be offensive or to cause offence, and I regret that it may have been seen in such a way."
Earlier, Tánaiste Simon Harris described the gesture as "unseemly and unbecoming".
Speaking in Lebanon, Mr Harris said: "I think that was also unseemly and unbecoming, but I think that behaviour wasn't isolated to any one deputy.
"Because I think when you have grown men standing up and shouting and roaring at the Ceann Comhairle and refusing to follow her direction - a person who was elected to implement the rules of the House.
"You know the rules are very simple. When the Ceann Comhairle stands up, you sit down. And to see adults standing up, shouting and roaring, hooping and hollering, isn't anything you'd want see in any workplace, least of all the Dáil."
Mr Lowry made the gesture as Opposition TDs chanted "shame" as members of the Government departed the Dáil chamber after the Dáil vote over the speaking rights proposal.
The Dáil voted in favour of the changes to standing orders by a margin of 93 to 74.
The combined Opposition proposal to amend the Government's motion was never put to a vote.
Mr Murphy called the vote "an authoritarian stroke by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and their Lowry and Healy Rae 'Independents'".
Additional reporting PA
