Speaking to Kuenssberg in a pre-recorded interview on Friday afternoon, Swinney said: “Obviously, Stephen Flynn recognised that he should have been across an issue to be in front of the transport committee and he remedied that right away.”
He added: “The material had not been passed to him so he had not seen it before he got to committee and he remedied it later on with the response that he gave to the transport committee.”
Swinney said it was obvious Flynn had not seen the email exchange between officials that morning.
Asked whether that was “good enough”, he responded “nobody’s perfect, nobody’s infallible. So Stephen Flynn, when he realised that he had, he was not across that issue, remedied that with the transport committee later on.”
Swinney said the men had talked about the issue and, asked whether he had confidence in Flynn, answered: “Yes I do, yes.”
The latest exchange came just a few days after Swinney defended Flynn at a separate committee meeting.
Willie Rennie raised “serious concerns about his [Flynn’s] competence as a minister” and questioned his “awareness of his brief”.
Swinney said he “respectfully disagreed” with Rennie’s analysis, adding he was confident all his ministers were “across their responsibilities”.