The National Union of Journalists has called on Senator Terry Leyden to withdraw recent comments he made in relation to RTÉ journalist Aileen O'Meara.
The NUJ has also said that Mr Leyden should make comments in a public forum rather than under parliamentary privilege.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Irish Secretary of the NUJ, Mr Séamus Dooley, said Mr Leyden, who was expected to make a statement on the issue today, should apologise.
He said Mr Leyden had implied that Ms O'Meara was not a professional journalist and was subject to political influence in the conduct of her professional duty.
"This is an outrage and I believe he should withdraw the comment or make them in a public forum," Mr Dooley said.
He called on the chairman of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party Mr Séamus Kirk and the Leader of the Seanad, Ms Mary O'Rourke, to disown the comments and to condemn the abuse of parliamentary privilege.
In the Seanad, Mr Leyden repeated comments he first made on October 22nd. In the Seanad that day, Mr Leyden alleged that health policy was being "controlled" by Ms O'Meara through her reports. "Every time there is someone on a trolley, we have Aileen O'Meara or someone else from RTÉ coming on the scene," he said.
Mr Leyden was told that he could not name individuals who were not in the chamber but he continued: "They may not be here but they are well represented here, and the party with whom they are involved is well represented in this House. If they want to defend it, so be it."
Mr Leyden was also called on by RTÉ to withdraw the remarks. The managing editor of the news division, Mr Cillian de Paor, said the clear implication was that Ms O'Meara was "biased and unfair in her professional work". He said there was a further implication that such bias was of a political nature because her sister, Ms Kathleen O'Meara, was a Labour senator.