A Government minister says the Cabinet has to learn from the way Katherine Zappone was appointed to a new post.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue says it should have been done 'in a much better way'.
He was speaking after the Cabinet agreed to appoint Ms Zappone to a newly-created position of UN Special Envoy for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, without advertising the position.
Ms Zappone was the children's minister in the last cabinet as an independent TD, but lost her Dáil seat in the last general election.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the appointment "could have been done better" procedurally - but that the Government was now "moving on" from the controversy.
Minister McConalogue told Newstalk Breakfast it should have been handled better.
"I think it's accepted that the way in which Ms Zappone was appointed should have been done in a much better and more transparent way.
"I don't think there's any doubt or question over Katherine Zappone's credentials or suitability for the post."
Asked why questions were not asked by the Cabinet over the appointment, he says: "There's no doubt there's learnings in relation to how this happened and it will be learned from.
"And I think people have accepted as well that the process could have been better.
"Everyone's accepted, and Minister Coveney's accepted as well, that there was a miscommunication in advance and that it should have been done in a better manner.
"With everything that the Government does on an ongoing basis there will be issues that arise where things are not done necessarily the way that they should be.
"And it's important when that happens that that's recognised, that that's addressed and indeed that that is learned from".
