RTE has defended its decision to apologise to a journalist and the Iona Institute, and pay them €85000 of taxpayers' money.
The state broadcaster says its legal team advised it to settle outside of court, after the group threatened it with a defamation case.
RTE's Managing Director of Television, Glen Killane, said the settlement was the most "prudent" response to the legal claim.
RTE has confirmed the payments involved were €40,000 to a journalist and €45,000 to members of the Institute.
The national broadcaster has also revealed it had been facing six separate legal actions and made the decision to settle after legal advice.
The action followed a comment made by Rory O'Neill during a discussion on homophobia shown on The Saturday Night Show last month.
The drag artist - better know as Panti - has since given a speech at the Abbey Theatre on his experiences of homophobia - the video's been watched almost a quarter of a million times on Youtube.
It's caught the attention of people right across the world; including Madonna, Stephen Fry and Graham Norton.
The Oireachtas Communications Committee has said it will be writing to RTE, to ask it to explain its approach to legal threats, after confirming the €85,000 payout.
The Communications Minister has said people in debates can't reach for defamation laws to back their argument.
Pat Rabbitte says "if you are a public person, in the sense of being a columnist, the notion that you're such a fragile creature that you have to reach for the defamation laws to vindicate your point of view is wrong".
The controversy was raised in Leinster House yesterday, with Senator Ronan Mullen urging all sides in the debate to remain civil.
