Former Fine Gael Minister Michael Lowry has lodged a formal complaint about how note he sent to the Taoiseach in the Dáil came into the public domain.

The note suggested Valerie O'Reilly for a position on the board of the National Transport Authority.

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

The note suggested Valerie O'Reilly for a position on the board of the National Transport Authority. In it, he described Ms O'Reilly as "a woman, bright, intelligent and not bad looking either".

According to the Irish Independent, the circumstances of how "individuals in Dáil Eireann" provided the newspaper with the note is the subject of the complaint by Mr Lowry to the Dáil's Committee on Procedures and Privileges.

Daniel McConnell, Group Political Correspondent for Independent News and Media joined Sean Moncrieff today and said that the question on everyone's lips is, who passed the Lowry note to the press?

"The funny thing from my point of view is that since the story broke, people in government have been absolutely perplexed as to how it made its way into the media.

"Apparently, my information is that tapes have been gone through forensically, stills of the Dáil footage to see exactly who did pick it up and all this, which is how tax money is being spent by highly paid officials!"