In last weekend's edition, in a story headlined "Cowen moves against Coughlan after Greens' ultimatum on Fás", a sequence of events was outlined that culminated in the withdrawal of a statement of support from the government for the board of Fás.

Since the publication of the story, the government has strongly disputed our version of this sequence of events. It insists the Taoiseach did not intervene in the matter and the Green Party did not warn it would not countenance a public backing of the board. We accept elements of the story may not have been correct and are happy to clarify this matter.