Iva' clear conscience over Gavin coaching

IVAN Yates has said he did “nothing wrong” by not declaring to his audience that he had provided media coaching to Jim Gavin, as client confidentiality was his “golden rule".

- BY CILLIAN SHERLOCK

Mr Yates, a former Fine Gael minister and ex-broadcaster, provided around four hours of media training to the Fianna Fail candidate during the presidential election.

Fianna Fail said this took place from September 23 to 29 and focused on preparing for interviews on two programmes, and also revealed he had coached ministers in the past.

Newstalk said a review is under way after Mr Yates presented a programme on its airwaves on three dates during the presidential election campaign and did not inform it of “any conflict of interest”.

Path To Power podcaster Matt Cooper was critical of Mr Yates, his co-host, for not declaring the coaching while commenting on the election and the show is now moving ahead with guest contributors instead.

Mr Gavin withdrew from contention following revelations about thousands of euro he owed to a former tenant.

Yesterday, Mr Yates defended his decision not to declare the coaching and said: “I had a golden rule and that was a client confidentiality.’