The finance minister has confirmed he briefly pulled out of a live TV debate tonight because his Fianna Fáil counterpart was "very upset".

Michael Noonan has confirmed he pulled out of a one-on-one appearance on RTÉ because he was being asked to debate against Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty.

The minister tonight said the debate on Prime Time had always been between the finance minister and the opposition spokesman of the largest opposition party.

The debate will now take a 5-person format with Minister Noonan, Deputy McGrath, Deputy Doherty and spokespeople from The Independent Alliance and AAA-PBP.

Michael Noonan says Michael McGrath was upset at being dropped from the programme, and he wanted to support him: