The Transport Minister has denied he told a former member of his party and other rebel TDs to tow the party line.

Lucinda Creighton says senior party figures - including Leo Varadkar - told them to keep their heads down in order to get back into the party.

Minister Varadkar says while a conversation took place between the pair, he says it is not his style to tell people to keep quiet.

And he told The Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk he is disappointed by her assertions.

She says she is not prepared to do that but has refused to be drawn on whether or not she wants to set up a rival political party. The Dublin South-East TD and member of the Reform Alliance lost the Fine Gael party whip over the abortion legislation.

She also campaigned for a No vote in the Seanad referendum last Friday. The former Junior Minister had said the campaign was been marked with cheap slogans.

Deputy Creighton told Breakfast here on Newstalk that she has no desire to get back into the Fine Gael parliamentary party. She also says there is one main reason why people voted No to abolishing the Seanad.