Leo Varadkar has defended plans to appoint the former Attorney General as a judge - amid threats from Fianna Fáil to collapse the government over it.

The party says the appointment would be a breach of its confidence-and-supply deal, a claimed denied by the Taoiseach, who says the process was sound and above board.

In a statement this evening Varadkar said he was "satisfied that the correct procedures were followed".

He said the Constitution gave the government the exclusive right and power to nominate judges, and that Maire Whelan was "as the stand-out person for the vacancy".

But this evening Shane Ross, an independent minister who sat in on Tueday's cabinet discussion to appoint her, said he would like to see the nomination "reviewed".

Fianna Fail says it may collapse the government - and force a general election - if the government goes ahead with Whelan's appointment.

It's emerged this afternoon that three existing judges had written to Whelan expressing an interest in the job, in line with the usual procedure around the promotion of existing members of the judiciary.

However it's not known if the Cabinet was informed that other judges had expressed an interest, given that the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board - which vets civilian applicants - could not put forward any candidates.

Whelan herself remained at the cabinet table while her possible candidacy was discussed and approved, but it is not known if she told her cabinet colleagues that other judges also wanted the job.

Fianna Fáil's Jim O'Callaghan says answers are needed, and the government could be brought down if they're not given:

Earlier our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: