The Taoiseach he has taken responsibility for the appointment of John McNulty - but says he had no role in appointing him to the board of IMMA.

This lunchtime Enda Kenny backtracked on comments he made during last night's live RTE debate, in which he said he had "made an appointment" that wasn't needed.

This was a departure from his previous comments, where Kenny had acknowledged picking McNulty to fill a vacant seat in the Seanad, but claimed to have been uninvolved in the separate appointment to IMMA.

Today he again insisted he had no involvement in choosing McNulty to fill the IMMA role, reverting to his previous explanation.

This evening, in an interview with the Last Word, Kenny said he now considered the matter to have been 'dealt with' and - despite claiming not to have been involved - asserted that he had taken responsibility for the IMMA nomination. 

In the wide-ranging interview with Matt Cooper this evening, Kenny also refused to be drawn on options for other coalitions.

And, questioned, about why he had failed on an electoral promise to burn bank bondholders, he claimed to have won a deal from the European Central Bank to eliminate Ireland's promissory notes.

This is a claim that was previously rejected by the ECB, which said at the time it simply 'took note' of the deal (which involved the liquidation of IBRC) as it was solely an arrangement between the government and the Central Bank.

You can hear Matt Cooper's full interview with Enda Kenny on The Last Word show page.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports: