Taoiseach and other Fianna Fáil ministers received media training from Ivan Yates

Fianna Fáil said on Monday that Mr Yates had worked 'on an ad-hoc basis' and had provided 'interview and debate training' for Jim Gavin

Micheál Martin received the training session with Ivan Yates during the general election campaign, Fianna Fáil confirmed. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and a number of Fianna Fáil ministers have confirmed they received training from broadcaster and former agriculture minister Ivan Yates.

The controversy has grown over the relationship between the party and Mr Yates and whether it should have been made public previously.

Revelations over the weekend that Mr Yates had worked on media training for Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin saw him dropped from his podcast Path to Power by co-host Matt Cooper, while Newstalk said that its senior management was reviewing his contributions in the lead-up to last month's presidential election. 

On Monday, the media regulator said that it would be asking Newstalk and RTÉ for more information around Mr Yates's work.

Having declined on Sunday to confirm Mr Yates had worked for the party, Fianna Fáil said on Monday that Mr Yates had worked "on an ad-hoc basis" and had provided "interview and debate training" for Mr Gavin before he exited the presidential race. A later statement expanded on Mr Yates's involvement with the party, which goes back to 2021.

It said that Mr Yates "provided specific debate and interview preparation for both the general and European elections".

"He did one session with Micheál Martin during the general election campaign. Mr Yates also provided training to ministers Darragh O’Brien and James Browne during the same campaign. The training exclusively focused on interview and debate preparation," the Fianna Fáil statement said.

Election campaigns

Fianna Fáil said its spend for both the European and Dáil election campaigns was "filed in the relevant returns to Sipo in August 2024 and January 2025 respectively".

Both social protection minister Dara Calleary and higher education minister James Lawless said they had been trained by Mr Yates as backbench TDs, along with others, in a session paid for by Fianna Fáil in 2022.

Children's minister Norma Foley said Mr Yates had trained her in two sessions before last year's general election, adding that this had been paid for using the secretarial allowance scheme which pays towards expenses "arising from the purchase of certain secretarial assistance, public relations, information technology (but not web-related), and training services from a person employed under a contract of service".

Housing minister James Browne said that Mr Yates, who has been listed as a director of a property development company, had no engagement or advice on policy matters when he gave media training.

A spokesperson said: "Minister Browne has received media-interview preparation from Ivan since he became minister. Mr Yates has not advised or engaged with the minister on any policy matters or in any other capacity."

His predecessor in the housing portfolio, current transport minister Darragh O'Brien, also received training from Mr Yates. A spokesperson for Mr O'Brien said that the former Newstalk Breakfast host's directorship "wasn't relevant" to the training.