Former Fine Gael junior minister Damien English has admitted that he was "embarrassed" and "disappointed" when he was forced to resign over providing incorrect information on a planning application.
However, the Meath West TD refused to fully answer questions about how a house that he failed to declare on his Dáil returns is being used.
Mr English resigned as a Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise in January after admitting he failed to declare ownership of a property when applying for planning permission for another Meath home in 2008.
While the matter was being looked at by both the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) and the Dáil Ethics Committee, both dropped their case against the TD.
Speaking for the first time since the controversy, Mr English told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne that he was "embarrassed" by the scandal.
"I was very clear on this when I resigned. I put my hand up, I gave the wrong information," he said.
"It was very clear from reviewing my planning file that the information was wrong and that's not good enough.
"That's why I resigned, that's why I apologised, that's the way I dealt with that.
"It’s a number of years ago. I can't give reasons or excuses that eases the pain on that. It was wrong.
"I dealt with it as best I possibly could, which I felt at the time was to resign my position.
"Thereafter, as you know, there was two potential investigations [that] kicked off.
"I never denied this happened. I have took full responsibility for this. I said the information was wrong on my file.
"[Whether] that led on to making the decision, who knows. But the planner very clearly says that he was led to believe from my file that I didn't have a house. I'm saying that that was wrong. I'm not denying that. I can't address that or fix that.
"I’m extremely disappointed with myself and embarrassed. The standards I set for myself were not met and that is why I resigned. I stand over that decision."
In addition to the planning application issue, it was also reported that Mr English had failed to declare ownership of a home on his Oireachtas register of members' interests.
Mr English said that the home "has always been in family use" and has "never been used for commercial use or anybody else's use".
He said that if he was renting out the home, he would have had to declare but insisted that "on a family home you don’t".
"It’s not for me to discuss with my family business, to be honest with you on that in relation to that house," he said.
When asked if anyone was living in the house, Mr English repeated that the home was for "family use."
Asked if he was going to sell the house, Mr English said: "There's a lot of my personal information out there already. That situation with the house is a private family matter and that has been dealt with."
When it was put to Mr English that he had "gotten away with it" as investigations into him have been dropped and the council does not have the power to reopen his planning application, the TD said he "can’t talk for any other bodies".
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