Jailed TD Mr Liam Lawlor is holding telephone discussions with his lawyers in a room used to monitor the phone calls of other prisoners.
The Irish Prisons Service has said, however, that he is accompanied at all times by a prison officer and is not disrupting the work of the jail. The service also said suggestions that Mr Lawlor had access to a prison computer in the room were untrue.
Mr Lawlor has been using a communications room in the basement of Mountjoy Prison for lengthy telephone discussions with his legal team.
A Prisons Service spokesman said all phone numbers used by prisoners were vetted and calls were routinely monitored to prevent inmates intimidating witnesses or breaching prison rules.
Mr Lawlor was not allowed to use the computer although his legal team did have the right to ask for permission to bring in a computer during face-to-face consultations if necessary.
The Prison Service was responding to a newspaper report that the Dublin West TD was receiving special treatment in Mountjoy by being allowed to spend several hours a day working on legal matters in the room.
"The alternative is to have him making calls in a corridor where the main phones are," the spokesman said. "Because he is a protected prisoner and because of the nature of the calls, that would cause too much disruption."
As a contempt of court prisoner, Mr Lawlor is allowed one 15-minute visit a day. As with other prisoners, he can have as many phone calls or visits with his legal team as deemed necessary, with prior approval.