Ivan Yates has said client confidentiality was the reason he did not disclose the fact that he gave media training to Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
This morning Mr Yates made his first comments on the controversy in an interview on RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh.
Mr Yates defended himself on all fronts, saying "I've done nothing wrong", and adding that he had received even more publicity than DJ Carey in recent days.
The broadcaster insisted that he did not break any broadcasting rules by giving media training to Mr Gavin while also presenting a news programme for Newstalk and presenting a podcast with journalist and Today FM presenter Matt Cooper.
Fianna Fáil said this training took place from 23-29 September and focused on preparing for interviews on two programmes.
Fianna Fáil also revealed Mr Yates has coached a number of ministers.
Newstalk said a review is under way after Mr Yates presented a programme on its airwaves on three dates during the Presidential Election campaign and did not inform it of "any conflict of interest".
Path to Power podcaster Matt Cooper was critical of Mr Yates, his co-host, for not declaring the coaching while commenting on the election and the show is now moving ahead with guest contributors instead.
Mr Yates, the media watchdog Coimisiún na Meán and a number of political public relations specialists have since been invited to an Oireachtas committee meeting to discuss transparency issues in the sector.
Oireachtas Media Committee chair Alan Kelly said he wanted to be "clear" that the media watchdog needs to make changes to transparency levels for the area so that the general public knows if an individual commenting on politics is also providing work for any political party.
This morning Mr Yates confirmed his intention to appear before the OIreachtas committee.
Mr Yates said he did not recall Mr Cooper or anyone else who worked on the podcast asking him if he worked with any of the presidential candidates, nor did he recall Newstalk asking if he was coaching Mr Gavin.
Mr Yates gave Mr Gavin around four hours of media training between 23 September and 29 September, and guest presented The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk on 23, 24, 25 September.
He said that Newstalk have trawled through the tapes of shows he presented over three days during the period and have not found anything inappropiate that he said.
Mr Yates said he was confident that he did not break any Coimisiún na Meán rules.
'I had a golden rule and that was client confidentiality'
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh, Mr Yates said when he left full-time broadcasting in July 2020 and set up his business to offer media training, that his golden rule was client confidentiality.
"I had a golden rule and that was a client confidentiality," he said.
My Yates said everyone knows he has strong opinions on everything but he said his job as a media trainer is "nothing to do with policy for any party and I have no involvement in any manifesto".
"My job is like a physio at the last minute to get them match fit."
He pointed out that in the nine days since the story broke, no other media trainer has come forward to say who they train.
This is because they owe their clients confidentiality, he said.
Mr Yates denied that he had any financial incentive for Mr Gavin to win.
"Let's be clear," he said, "I had initially said some things in Jim Gavin's favour because I thought he would be a good choice but I quickly found out that he is not a politician and had no political skills."
He said all clients are entitled to confidentiality and he does not believe there has been a breach of trust.
He said, "I ask myself the simple question - is this legal in everything I do".
"And in the case of the podcast, I asked myself that question - and do you know what the answer is? The 2009 Broadcasting Acts do not cover podcasts. And in fact, the only law covering podcasts because they're a personal and private expression, is the law of defamation."
Yates sorry for impact on Heather Humphreys
Mr Yates also said his comment that Fine Gael should "smear the bejaysus" out of independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly was made "fast and loose" and that it was not part of any strategy for the party or Fianna Fáil.
However, he acknowledged it had an impact on Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys' campaign: "Actually the only thing I'm sorry for in the last three or four weeks, or in the whole period, was that impact."
"It was my opinion that the minute Jim exited the race was that Catherine Connolly was going to win the race," he said.
"I handed in my Fine Gael membership card when I started in Newstalk in 2009," he said, "and it was a stroke of genius by the Catherine Connolly campaign to claim those comments were a Fine Gael smear."
"Similar claims by Simon Harris that it was a Fianna Fáil smear are also lies," Mr Yates said.
Mr Yates added: "I broke no rules. In my mind, I've done nothing wrong. Any coaching job I have has not compromised my own opinions."
