Independent TD Michael Lowry has accused Labour's deputy leader of "haranguing him in public" over the prospect of a coalition deal.

The TD says Alan Kelly is "jumping on the bandwagon" by claiming he would refuse to make a deal with Lowry in exchange for supporting the next government.

The prospect has not been ruled out by two coalition ministers this morning - though Brendan Howlin and Leo Varadkar both insisted they did not want a coalition to be reliant on the support of independents.

In Varadkar's case, he remarked that some deputies have 'trouble with the law' and that he did not want a slim Dáil majority to be made up of TDs who may sometimes be in court or in jail.

However the leaders of the two major opposition parties have ruled out the idea of recruiting Lowry's support for a potential coalition, owing to the findings made against him in the Moriarty Tribunal's final report.

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