Simon Coveney believes it was prudent for him to delete text messages between himself and Katherine Zappone.
The Foreign Affairs Minister says he clears his phone "on quite a regular basis".
He feels it is prudent that he does this due to his position as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence.
He says this is done to stop issues that have been resolved from sitting on his phone.
He has also cleared messages between himself and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.
Minister Coveney says he is opening to future questioning about the practice and will comply with Freedom of Information legislation aswell.
He says there was no "huge mystery" to Katherine Zappone’s now defunct appointment as a special UN envoy but says it was a mistake that he didn’t tell the Taoiseach.
