Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has described the row between Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and the judiciary over bail and mandatory sentencing as "a contrived dispute".
He said yesterday that Mr McDowell knew he was creating the controversy to hide his own dismal record.
His comments followed the boycotting by most of the senior judges of a Christmas drinks reception on Thursday night hosted by Mr McDowell.
The boycott was in protest at his remarks about their failure to implement the law on bail and mandatory sentences for drug dealing.
Also on Thursday Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court made reference in a judgment to what he termed "strident and repeated public comments" made in recent weeks on the subject of mandatory sentences for drugs offences.
Mr Rabbitte said the key issue was not mandatory sentencing but enforcement of the law.
Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell said yesterday he had no doubt that Mr McDowell and Mr Justice Hardiman "will have a nice glass of claret over the Christmas and admire their debating skills and boldness"
Referring to the fact tht Mr McDowell and Mr Justice Hardiman went to Jesuit schools, he said: "In west Dublin and north and south inner Dublin, many did not have the opportunity to go to university and it is likely none attended Gonzaga College. The 'Gonzaga Two' might reflect on how privileged they are and address the question: 'If the spate of terrible murders we have witnessed took place in Dublin 4, would the State (Minister, Oireachtas and judges) have made a more effective response sooner?'"
Mr Mitchell said he could well understand that judges did not like mandatory sentences.
"But when the Oireachtas passes a law providing for occasional mandatory sentences because of particular crime levels in our community, judges should be expecting criticism if it is not applied in 80 per cent of cases," Mr Mitchell said. "The Chief Justice should be asked by the Oireachtas to explain why this is".
Retired Mr Justice Feargus Flood expressed his high regard for Mr McDowell. However, he said the one fault Mr McDowell had in life was that he "speaks first and thinks second".