Sinn Fein has described the visit of US President George Bush, as "insensitive".
Speaking this morning on RTE's Pat Kenny Show, President of Sinn Fein Mr Gerry Adams, accused the British prime minister and the US president of using the peace process in Northern Ireland as a "stage or as a prop" for the summit on Iraq between the two leaders.
Mr Adams criticised the meeting and said it was "insensitive" to hold such a summit where the peace process would be addressed "in the margins".
"We would be wrong not to point it out ... the insensitivity of having a war summit, of having a war summit which then discusses peace in the margins, of having a war summit which appears to be trying to use the Irish peace process as a stage or as a prop," Mr Adams said.
He said that although he knew the meeting could be helpful it was a contradiction that had to be highlighted.
President Bush is to join Mr Blair for the summit at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down this evening.
Earlier, the Sinn Féin chairman, Mr Mitchell McLaughlin said Sinn Fein believed the summit to be unnecessary, particularly in light of terms of Ireland's role in the conflict, and the attitude of the majority of the population to the war.
"That attitude," he said, speaking on Morning Ireland today, "is well know but it hasn't stopped the war .
"Our presence there[at the summit] will be to address that opposition and to address what will be a critical week for the peace process."
"We will be outlining to him [Mr Bush] our total opposition to the invasion of Iraq; we believe the issues that need to be addressed in that country could and should have been done under the auspices of the UN and ultimately are a matter for the people of Iraq themselves," he added.