Justice Minister John O’Donoghue has repeated that he did nothing wrong in relation to the Patrick Naughton rape case in Co Galway.

Justice Minister John O’Donoghue today faced calls to resign as controversy surrounding political attempts to contact a trial judge before sentencing a man for rape deepened.

The Opposition is calling on the Minister for Justice to explain why he concealed correspondence with former junior Minister Bobby Molloy on the issue of an approach made to Judge Philip O’Sullivan in relation to the case of Patrick Naughton.

Students have posted 5,000 postcards through Government Buildings letterboxes, calling on Bertie Ahern to hold a weekend election.

The Labour Party is calling for an independent investigation into the phone-calls-to the-judge fiasco.

The Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, says he did nothing wrong in relation to the court case which led to the resignation of Bobby Molloy.

A Department of Justice official asked Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan if he would take a phonecall at home from Bobby Molloy concerning the Naughton rape case, the judge said today.

Former Junior Minister Bobby Molloy has apologised for the affair which led to his resignation from the Government this morning.

Junior Minister Bobby Molloy's decision to resign over the controversy surrounding his approach to a judge in relation to a rape case in the west of Ireland was considered the right thing to do by Fine Gael.

Junior Minister Bobby Molloy has resigned over the controversy surrounding his approach to a judge in relation to a rape case in the west of Ireland.

Junior Minister Bobby Molloy has resigned.

Opposition parties are expected to demand the resignation of Junior Minister Bobby Molloy today after he admitted yesterday that he made an improper approach to a judge in relation to a rape case.