The Sunday Tribune has learned that Morrissey is considering taking legal advice having been very upset by a quote from O'Dea claiming she "had a rake of drink taken" when the confrontation in the bar took place.

Morrissey is also quoted in the Limerick Leader piece saying that she was on only her second drink when the incident occurred. While she had been for a meal in a Chinese restaurant before arriving at South's pub, Morrissey, an Aer Lingus workers' spokeswoman, told the paper she didn't like wine with Chinese food.

It is also understood that Morrissey is furious with O'Dea over suggestions that she initiated contacts with the media and is absolutely insistent that she did not make first contact with any media organisation.

Morrissey was unavailable for comment this weekend, but friends yesterday told the Sunday Tribune that she would still prefer to "let the whole thing go" but did not want O'Dea continuing with "that abuse".

"He [O'Dea] should have let it be and had the sense to say no more about it. She would much rather that had happened, " a friend said.

However, Willie O'Dea yesterday insisted that even though the quote was attributed to him in the Limerick Leader, he had not stated that Morrissey "had a rake of drink taken".

"I can't look into somebody's mind and say 'that person is drunk or sober', " he told the Sunday Tribune. O'Dea added that he would be willing to apologise to Morrissey in relation to this specific issue if there were any confusion on the matter.

Asked if he would be willing to meet with Morrissey and her friend, local businessman John Fahey, to settle their differences, the minister stressed that he would have "no problem talking to them" at any time to explain his position, but added that the problem was that he wasn't allowed to explain his position last weekend.

Friends of Geraldine Morrissey also stressed yesterday that it would "probably be for the best" if the whole thing was sorted out.

News of the pub row first erupted on Thursday, with front-page reports in both the Irish Examiner and the Daily Mail. Soon afterwards, the story was being widely discussed on radio and in households all over the country. On RTE's Today with Pat Kenny the same day, Fahey and Morrissey spoke about what they described as O'Dea's "aggressive" behaviour, saying that he left the pub with tanaiste Brian Cowen only to return moments later.

"Minister O'Dea came back into the pub and, for want of better words, he was working the room, shaking hands, " Fahey said. When O'Dea approached the table where Fahey and Morrissey were sitting with a group of people, they claim he became obnoxious when they tackled him on why he didn't participate in the Dail debate on the Aer Lingus issue.

"He said to me, 'I am the minister for defence' and I said, 'Well you didn't defend the people of the west of Ireland very well', " Fahey said. "He turned around, and I can't use the language on your programme, but he called me a word that starts with 'p' and ends with 'k'. I said, 'Excuse me?' and he said, 'I would like to hit you.' I said, 'If you were a little bigger, maybe I'd let you.'" Fahey continued that O'Dea then turned to Morrissey in an aggressive manner. "After I made that remark, he turned to Geraldine, his face six inches from hers and said, 'I don't give an F about you' and he used the word in full. My wife got very upset; she was unconsolable[sic]. At that stage, his minders took him away. That is the truth and I'm standing over it."

Morrissey said she was in "utter shock" over O'Dea's behaviour in South's pub. "My reaction at the time was complete and utter shock that he would say something like that to me. That a public representative would say it and I actually said to myself, 'what did I ever do to Willie O'Dea that he would react like that?'" She added that she has had no dealings with O'Dea since she became spokeswoman for Aer Lingus workers at Shannon airport. "He may well know I'm involved. Maybe that's why he reacted to me." Fahey added: "I did not pick a row with him."

O'Dea was unavailable to speak at that time on the Pat Kenny show about the row but his spokeswoman spoke to RTE, and said the following:

"The minister is completely denying that he verbally abused anyone. He was the one who was being verbally abused about Shannon airport by two people in a pub in Limerick last weekend." She continued: "As if the minister would take a six-foot five-inch rugby player outside to fight. Willie O'Dea has a number of witnesses to support his version of events. The people involved tried to sell the story to eight or nine papers."

Fahey and Morrissey strongly denied the assertion that they attempted to sell the story and said they made no effort to contact the press. "The only person who contacted me was Jimmy Woulfe from the Irish Examiner. I do not court that type of publicity. I'm a refined person, " Fahey said.

A short time later, O'Dea contacted Pat Kenny's show himself. "I'm mesmerised this story is getting such credence, " he said. "It wasn't an altercation;

it was an exchange of opinions." He maintained that Morrissey and Fahey approached him aggressively when he came back to the pub to collect his wife and he denied that he was "canvassing" in the pub.

"Two people approached me very vociferously talking about Shannon. . . I tried to explain my position but I was shouted down. I admit I was dismissive and I said 'sod off ' or words to that effect and walked away." Asked if he had called Fahey a p***k, he replied: "Absolutely not. I think I've a better command of language than to resort to words like that. I've never said that word to anyone in a pub in my life and I never will."

When questioned about his spokeswoman's phrasing that the pair had attempted to "sell" the story, he said: "I don't know anything about that and I certainly didn't say anything about them flogging it to eight or nine papers."

O'Dea also denied threatening to hit Fahey.

"He's six-foot plus, wouldn't I be very foolish? I've never asked anyone to fight outside a pub in my life. . .

I might have said 'sod off ' or 'feck off, ' I don't remember. That would have been the furthest I went."

Later that day, Jimmy Woulfe, who broke the story for the Irish Examiner, told RTE's Drivetime listeners that he had contacted Fahey when he heard about the incident and did not pay for the story. He said the story had been dubbed 'The Wee Willie Vs Big John Rumble' in the Limerick Leader and said O'Dea was well-known as a "fiery" character.

"This adds to the Willie O'Dea legend, " he said.

"In the next election, he'll probably jump from 19,000 to 22,000 votes." Asked if he believed O'Dea had been canvassing the pub when the altercation occurred, Woulfe said: "Willie is addicted to canvassing and like any addict he's often unaware when it hits. I'd say Willie was probably canvassing away oblivious to the fact that he was doing the canvass around the pub."