Michael Lowry says the note he passed to the Taoiseach in the Dail - which referred to a woman as 'not bad looking' was - in hindsight - unnecessary.

It emerged at the weekend that the Independent TD passed the note to Enda Kenny in the chamber last Wednesday which asked him to consider reappointing Valerie O'Reilly to the board of the National Transport Authority.

In it, he described Ms O'Reilly as "A woman, bright, intelligent and not bad looking either".

Mr Lowry told Newstalk Lunchtime he doesn't have anything to regret and Ms. O'Reilly is not offended by the remark and he doesn't know any woman who would be offended by it. 

He said: "I've never heard of a situation where a woman took exception to a compliment on her appearance, on her dress, on her shoes or on her hairstyle."

"The bottom line is in my constituency I have many women who support me at election time, those women support me because they know I treat women with courtesy and respect."

Following the interview, Mr Lowry released a statement which ended with:

"Many of my supporters in the constituency are women of all ages. These women support me because they know that I treat women with curtesy (sic) and respect. As a politician I encourage women to get involved in all aspects of society. We have heard a lot and read a lot about the lack of involvement of women in state institutions and the lack of recognition for their talents and abilities. In that context I don’t see what the fuss is about, requesting the Taoiseach to consider for appointment a women with all the necessary qualifications."

Here is the statement in full: