The Labour Party leader, Pat Rabbitte, has accused RTÉ of giving the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, a platform to assert his position without any Opposition participation.
Mr Rabbitte said that earlier yesterday he had accepted an offer from Prime Time to debate the current crime situation with Mr McDowell.
He said that last night the programme-makers advised the party that he had been dropped because Mr McDowell said he would only appear on his own.
The Labour leader said Mr McDowell's statement yesterday about wanting to debate the issue with the Opposition has turned out to be more hypocritical bombast.
A spokeswoman for Prime Time said the programme made its own decision on who appeared and no outsider dictated to it or exercised any veto.
It was not uncommon, the spokeswoman added, for interviewees from time to time to agree to be interviewed on their own and not to debate with someone else.
The Green Party has claimed that remarks made by Mr McDowell on the programme repeated a smear against the party which he had withdrawn in the Dáil yesterday.
In a statement last night, Green Party Chairman John Gormley said the minister had again tried to associate the Greens with the thugs who attacked the offices of the PDs in last month's Dublin street violence.
