The Foreign Affairs Minister says comments by Enda Kenny that suggested he didn't want to go home from the United States to assess talks on formation of a Government have been "mis-interpreted".

At the end of the days events in Washington for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Enda Kenny told an audience that chatting to the limo driver he nearly wanted to say "bejaysus it's a pity I have to go back to Ireland and face what I have to face there".

But speaking to reporters in Washington, Minister Charlie Flanagan played down suggestions that it was a signal from Enda Kenny that he had run out of energy: