The transfer request was received by McDowell three weeks after he made an unorthodox visit to Flynn's home in Co Meath where he gained information he later used to criticise former justice minister, Nora Owen.

Flynn is a key witness in the Morris tribunal which is investigating the conduct of gardai in Co Donegal. The minister has refused to answer questions in the Dail as to whether the purpose of the visit was to 'dig dirt' on Owen.

A spokeswoman for the minister denied any impropriety in the prisoner transfer matter, and said there was no quid pro quo between any assistance the minister might have received from Flynn on that visit and his role in the transfer of the prisoner to Loughan House.

"The representation was passed onto the prison service in the normal way where the prisoner was assessed for transfer, " the spokeswoman said. "The minister took no personal direct action in the matter."

Flynn's representation was dated 5 July 2005. It was forwarded from the minister's office to the prison service, where the transfer request received approval. The minister formally agreed to the transfer on 14 July. Flynn says McDowell personally phoned him around that date to tell him the matter was dealt with.

The minister's spokeswoman says there is no record of a call on file, but it wouldn't be unusual for the minister to phone somebody who made a representation when there was a successful outcome to the matter.

The prisoner was serving a two-year sentence for fraud, having been jailed in January 2005. Flynn's representation included a letter from a GP concerning the effect of the man's jailing on his 12-yearold daughter.

The letter stated: "The sudden wrenching of her father from her was a raw emotional trauma, made all the more acute when this child could not accept finding her father in the forbidding circumstances of a closed prison such as exists in Mountjoy prison. The child refuses to visit her father in these circumstances, probably due to a state of denial."

It went on: "I have no doubt that were this child's father to be moved to an open prison situation, the child's emotional difficulties would be overcome because of the less threatening environment of open association when visiting."

The prisoner completed his sentence in Loughan House and was released earlier this year on full remission.

Flynn said there was no direct connection between the minister's visit to his house and the prisoner issue. "We didn't discuss that matter at all on the day McDowell came to my house looking for assistance, " he said.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who has accused McDowell of refusing to answer Dail questions relating to the visit to Flynn's home, said he is satisfied that "we have not got the full information about the purpose of the visit".