The presidential candidate Dana (Mrs Rosemary Scallon) has rejected an apology from the journalist, Vincent Browne, after he was accused of bullying her during an interview on his RTE radio programme on Thursday.
In a statement issued last night, she said: "While I have been advised that the terms of Mr Browne's apology do not constitute a proper apology and while I am rejecting any claims made about me by Mr Browne, I have no wish to prolong this issue and consider the matter closed."
Mr Browne, who is known for his abrasive style on air, issued a statement yesterday to Radio Ireland saying that he regretted causing offence to listeners and any distress to Dana. "I also very much regret if my manner conveyed any disrespect towards Dana."
He said a number of people had contacted him to express their upset over the manner in which he interviewed Dana during the Tonight with Vincent Browne show. "I believed during the interview that she was being deliberately evasive on a variety of issues and I responded to that in the same manner as I customarily do on the programme.
"I realised afterwards, however, that the evasion was not deliberate and that therefore my style was inappropriate," he said. RTE last night welcomed his expression of regret for causing offence to listeners and any distress to Dana. In a statement, RTE said it considered that Mr Browne's programme did not reach the standard required of current affairs output in a presidential election.
The station received a number of complaints from listeners about Mr Browne's treatment of the presidential candidate.
Dana accused the broadcaster of seeing his interview with her as an opportunity to annihilate her. She said he was being true to an article he wrote about her before she secured a nomination.
"He wrote that I should be nominated and then annihilated and he saw this as his opportunity to annihilate me, but he did not annihilate me," she said. She added that people who listen to the programme regularly told her that they were stunned at the level of aggression shown, and the departure from normal broadcasting practice.
On Thursday night's radio programme she claimed she was "being pilloried" for her religious beliefs. "From what people are telling me he was particularly bullying and harassing to me. I felt that he wasn't really interested in what I felt or in my opinions."
What Browne said; Drive for Aras picks up pace; Mary Cummins laments absence of women's issues; Spring, De Rossa attack McAleese; Roche, Nally: pages 6 and 7