Minister Coveney's written to Charlie Flanagan to insist any suggestion he was trying to keep his texts to the Tanaiste secret are "plain wrong".
The Foreign Affairs Minister says his phone was used to contact some of his fellow EU counterparts after it was hacked last year.
Simon Coveney says the matter was dealt with swiftly and the hack led to him being more careful about the security of his texts.
The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, on which sits Kildare TDs James Lawless and Cathal Berry, said the minister still had questions to answer over his texts about the Katherine Zappone UN appointment.
Minister Coveney's written to Charlie Flanagan to insist any suggestion he was trying to keep his texts to the Tanaiste secret are "plain wrong".
Simon Coveney tells the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee that other EU foreign ministers were contacted using “his phone’s identity” after a hacking incident last summer - and that he takes ongoing advice from Gardaí about the security of his phone. @VirginMediaNews pic.twitter.com/hfwg19FaVb
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) September 2, 2021