The Taoiseach says he 'misspoke' when he said the banks were never bailed out.
In the Dáil yesterday, the Taoiseach said "the banks were not bailed out... shareholders in the banks were not bailed out... the State took equity".
The comment from Micheál Martin has drawn criticism from many TDs and commentators.
Today, the Taoiseach told The Echo he misspoke and 'made a mistake in terms of how I articulated it'.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, meanwhile, also said the Taoiseach didn't mean what he said.
He told the Dáil: "There was a bailout of the banks 12 years ago.
"The Taoiseach misspoke yesterday - he's said that himself already this morning, and he did correct himself very quickly... in the Dáil yesterday.
"What he meant to say was that the bank's owners and shareholders were not bailed out."
Earlier, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett told Newstalk Breakfast it was "quite insulting" for the Taoiseach to suggest there wasn't a bailout.
