LABOUR Party TD Mr Joe Costello has been criticised by Fianna Fail for getting "cheap publicity" by appearing on TV with a prisoner's family during the Mountjoy hostage crisis.
Fianna Fail's Mr Liam Lawlor said the Labour deputy used the hostage-taker's family as a gimmick when the Department of Justice was at a delicate stage of negotiations. "This attempt to get in on the public act was deplorable.
He added that the call on radio by Democratic Left's Mr Eric Byrne TD for the prison to be demolished and rebuilt was the behaviour of someone acting as if his party was outside the decision-making area.
"This continual plinth-playing by Labour and DL deputies is a cynical exercise to avoid and evade the consequences of the mishandling of a whole range of issues by the current Government," he said.
