Ó Neachtain, a PR executive acting on behalf of INM, that he would be referring the matter to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Denis Naughten tells Dáil 'I had no inside information to give' | https://t.co/s3Ts26XFZA pic.twitter.com/uTyNQtFVHN

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 18, 2018

INM subsequently decided not to go ahead with the takeover and it is a matter for debate whether the decision was influenced by what the minister told Mr Ó Neachtain.

The 2014 Competition and Consumer Protection Act gives the minister the responsibility for assessing proposed media mergers and the power to prevent any merger that is deemed likely to be contrary to the public interest in maintaining the plurality of media in the State.

As communications minister he had the power to make one of either three decisions: He could allow the merger to proceed, allow it to proceed with conditions or ask the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to conduct a more in-depth examination of the proposed measure.

In a phonecall with Mr Ó Neachtain on November 11, 2016, the minister expressed the view that it was likely the

proposed takeover would be referred to the BAI for consideration. The following day, that information was then passed on to INM’s biggest shareholder, Denis O’Brien.

Yet, on December 6 of that year Mr Naughten told the Dáil that he had yet to make a decision and was awaiting a report on the matter from departmental officials.

“I have not received the report from my officials yet. When I do receive that report, I will read it and make the decision,” he told Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy.

Understandably, the minister faced a barrage of criticism yesterday from a number of TDs, among them Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, and Labour leader Brendan Howlin.

He responded by saying that he had done nothing wrong and that, in the conversation with Mr Ó Neachtain, he was expressing a “personal opinion” on what was likely to happen.

Mr Naughten is wrong to attempt to characterise his comments as “personal”. After all, the reason he was contacted by Mr Ó Neachtain was because he was the minister responsible for making a decision of direct interest to his client.

He is wrong to say the information relayed was not confidential. Although the statutory process involved in dealing with such media mergers are in the public domain, the opinion he expressed to Eoghan Ó Neachtain was, at the time confidential and commercially sensitive.

The minister was also wrong to mislead the Dáil three weeks later by stating categorically that he had not yet made a decision on the proposed takeover.

He is right about one thing: Admitting that “it may have been preferable if the conversation did not take place”.