Further pressure on Humphreys

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys has come under more pressure to explain how she appointed John McNulty to a cultural post days before he was named as Fine Gael candidate for a Seanad vacancy.

The affair caused uproar as Mr McNulty first quit the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Arts after less than two weeks, then asked people not to vote him into the Seanad.

Now, it has emerged that Arts Department officials were asked to find vacancies on cultural boards two days before Mr McNulty was appointed to Imma.