A senior Labour TD insists he was not 'tired and emotional' when he gave a fired-up speech at the party think-in on Monday.

At a dinner that evening, Ruairí Quinn told delegates Labour had defeated 'the Fine Gaelers, the Fianna Fáilers and the Free Staters' - and that the party had brought the country into the 21st century.

Although he did not know it was being recorded at the time, he later agreed that it could be made public.

And the former party leader says he had no problem with anyone knowing about his comments.

"I gave my agreement to it being made available - I was approached by the reporter subsequently the following day and she told me that she actually had a recording of it" he told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk.

"And I was surprised - I wasn't aware that it was being recorded".

"But that's just modern technology for you now - these are the things that we just have to encounter and...I was quite happy with what I had said" he added.