Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue refused to be drawn in the Dáil on the controversy about when Minister of State Síle de Valera agreed to resign her portfolio in the Department of Education.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny raised the issue of the junior ministerial reshuffle in the wake of the statement on Wednesday by Ms de Valera that she had agreed with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at a meeting more than three months ago that she would step down in December.
There had been persistent speculation about Ms de Valera's future as a Minister but no indication of such an agreement before her statement.
Mr Kenny said "the country was taken aback by the extraordinary statement" by Ms de Valera that the agreement was made on November 6th. She had announced last year that she would be retiring from the Dáil at the next general election.
"The internal perks associated with ministerial office seem to be of more importance to Fianna Fáil backbenchers than any other issue in the country, such as the 400 patients on trolleys, job losses or accident and emergency units."
The Fine Gael leader questioned whether a former taoiseach was correct in stating that the current Taoiseach is the most cunning of them all - "if Deputy de Valera's post is not filled by deputy Haughey, then a de Valera and a Haughey will be gone in one stroke".
He asked if it was proposed to amend the Ministers and Ministers of State Bill to allow a junior minister "to decide when they can leave or change positions. I note that in the case of Minister of State Deputy Gallagher, when the going got tough 'the Cope' got going. It seems Ministers of State can change jobs at will."
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea quipped that "the Opposition will not have that problem for a long time".
Mr O'Donoghue, who was taking the order of business in the absence of both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Mary Harney, said there was "no promised legislation on Ministers or Ministers of State, no more than there is planned legislation to prevent the speedy rotation of Fine Gael leaders".
