The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has condemned one of his predecessors, Mr Seán Doherty, after it was claimed that he gave his Cabinet colleague, Mr Ray Burke, a copy of a Garda report into planning corruption allegations against Mr Burke.
But Mr McDowell has no plans to initiate any investigation into the alleged incident in 1982, an account of which appears in a new book by former government press secretary Mr Frank Dunlop.
"He is concerned about it and he'd condemn it, but the damage is done, if any damage was done," said Mr McDowell's official spokeswoman.
Although Mr Doherty did not return calls yesterday, there was no comment from the Garda Press Office when asked whether the force would investigate Mr Dunlop's claims.
A spokeswoman for Eason's on Dawson Street, Dublin, said last evening that the book, entitled Yes, Taoiseach, had been selling "very, very well" since it went on sale yesterday morning.
The book's publisher, Penguin Ireland, said it believed the work could become a bestseller. "Hopefully I will sell tens of thousands rather than thousands," said the company's managing director, Mr Michael McLoughlin.
Neither Mr McLoughlin nor Mr Dunlop would comment yesterday on the terms of Mr Dunlop's contract to write the book, which is priced at €22.99.
Mr McLoughlin conceded that Penguin Ireland had "worried" for a period about the credibility of Mr Dunlop, who has admitted at the planning tribunal that he gave councillors money for planning favours.
However, he had no concerns about the quality of Mr Dunlop's memory or about his account of his involvement with Fianna Fáil and the former taoisigh Charles Haughey and the late Jack Lynch. "We wouldn't do it unless we were happy and we are 100 per cent happy," said Mr McLoughlin.
In addition to the disclosure about Mr Doherty, Mr Dunlop wrote in the book that he lobbied an associate of Mr Albert Reynolds about the possibility of Mr Liam Lawlor becoming a junior minister when Mr Reynolds became taoiseach. He did this at Mr Lawlor's request.
In radio interviews yesterday, Mr Dunlop said his activities with councillors took place "in the context of the time".
Such activities were prevalent throughout the State, even though he had no evidence to prove that, he added.
