In an interview with RTE's special correspondent Charlie Bird, broadcast yesterday on the radio programme This Week, Mrs Robinson was asked about the controversy surrounding the refusal to allow The Irish Times's Beijing-based Asia Correspondent, Conor O'Clery, to accompany her to Tibet.
She said: "We are a very united delegation, absolutely going to work flat out. It is a pity that we had a problem with Irish media at the start, or with an Irish journalist. I understand from my press officer that Conor O'Clery did not want other journalists in Beijing to know that he had the permission to visit. So, I think, in some way, he did not want to have the pool that I was very anxious to have."
Charlie Bird said: "He would deny that, I think." Mrs Robinson replied: "He may deny it, but I believe my press officer, obviously, and I think it was a pity that that happened. And it is over now."
Conor O'Clery said in Beijing last night: "I did not, could not and indeed would not, oppose a pool to go to Tibet. The suggestion that a foreign correspondent can influence the Chinese government in how an event is covered is extraordinary."