Former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has launched an attack on opposition politicians and the media for spreading "fake news".
Deputy Fitzgerald said politicians used the cloak of Dáil privilege to defame civil servants during the row that led to her resignation last year.
She was cleared of wrongdoing by the recent Charleton Tribunal report.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Frances Fitzgerald said fake news was spread about Department of Justice staff at the time.
She argued: "What is deeply worrying is politicians using the shelter of parliament to defame public servants.
"Had someone done this outside the House legal recourse would have been possible and predictable but inside the Dáil it is untouchable but printable."
She added: "Unsupported defamation is walked into our national press wrapped in the cloak of Dáil privilege. Defamation laundering is not what this privilege was designed for.
"I make these points not to engage in recriminations but to suggest that we all, both inside and outside this House, need to reflect on how in some instances what was in effect fake news came to be accepted as true and acted on to the detriment of others."
"Tusla needs a radical shape up"
File photo of Katherine Zappone. Image: RollingNews.ie
Meanwhile, the Children's Minister Katherine Zappone also addressed the Dáil about the Charleton report - focusing on its findings regarding the child and family agency Tusla.
The report strongly criticised the child and family agency Tusla for its handling of the false rape claim made against whistleblower Maurice McCabe - with Judge Charleton also highlighting the "astounding inefficiency of that organisation and the inertia of its management in Cavan/Monaghan".
Minister Zappone said Sgt McCabe had been "fully vindicated" by the findings of the report.
She suggested the message of the report is that "in its mildest interpretation, Tusla needs a radical shape up".
She praised frontline workers at the agency, and added that she plans to consult them "on how we need to move forward with the reform of Tusla".
Additional reporting by Sean Defoe
