Patrick O’Donovan’s departmental records of his meeting with Coimisiún na Meán don’t disclose the secret phone call he’d made to a commissioner where the media minister sought to initiate a state examination of RTÉ’s fuel protest coverage.

During controversy over his “sinister” comments about media, Patrick O’Donovan didn’t admit he had already secretly called a Coimisiún na Meán commissioner to see if he as media minister could trigger a state “examination” of RTÉ fuel protest coverage he didn’t like.

St Patrick’s Day 2010 and I’m pulling a black Lyle and Scott sweater over a yellow Ralph Lauren polo and going to get the train from Dublin to Belfast.

“On a strictly confidential basis” a senior civil servant sent a confidential draft document to a lobbyist at the billionaire Collison brothers-funded Progress Ireland – whose board includes the civil servant’s former boss at his department.

The head of the Irish media regulator was described as a “conspirator” during a Hong Kong parliamentary probe – but claims he blew the whistle on “political interference” in a controversial €20 million contract award.