The finance minister has confirmed he pulled out of a live TV debate tonight because his Fianna Fáil counterpart was “very upset”.

Michael Noonan has confirmed he pulled out of a one-on-one appearance on RTE because he was being asked to debate against Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

The minister tonight said the debate on Prime Time had always been between the finance minister and the opposition spokesman of the largest opposition party.

He says Michael McGrath was upset at being dropped from the programme – and he wanted to support him: “He regarded it and I regarded it as he was being punished for being responsible and helping to form a government when noone else would.

“So I decided to support him, in his protest because I regard my relationship with Fianna Fáil to be far more important than my relationship with Miriam O’Callaghan.”