Parliamentarians were not going to stand by and permit Irish media standards to descend to the level of those in the neighbouring island, declared the leader of the House, Mr Donie Cassidy, who said it was time for the establishment of a press council.
Strong criticism of sections of the media was voiced by several senators.
While the latest onslaught had been triggered by the publication in the Star newspaper of a picture showing a man's body in the river Liffey, the criticism was directed more widely.
Mr Cassidy made it clear that he was unimpressed by the Star's latest attempt to "justify this shameful exercise".
He believed Ms Mairin Quill (PD) had put her finger on it when she had spoken of the media expecting standards from public representatives which they were not necessarily inclined to apply to themselves.
Pressing for a debate on media standards, Ms Quill said those who considered democracy to be important must be appalled to see how, in recent times, rumour had been elevated to the status of reality to see how allegations could be treated as though they were facts.
Referring particularly to public service broadcasting, Ms Quill said it was time Senators signalled their intention to debate media issues.
Mr Maurice Manning, Fine Gael leader in the House, urged that there be a "two-way" debate, with consideration being given to affording media representatives an opportunity to inform the House of things from their perspective. A media-bashing exercise would be of no benefit.
Mr John Dardis, deputy leader of the House, recalled that he had asked last Wednesday if the Star had taken expert advice before publishing the picture of the body in the Liffey. The paper had subsequently sought to justify the use of the photograph on the grounds that some good might result from it.
The body of another person had been taken from the river in his hometown of Newbridge yesterday morning. He would ask the Star personnel to consider if they had any influence on that particular tragedy. "Really, some of the things that I read in this morning's Star I find difficult to take in the context of what I know happened earlier this morning."
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) expressed concern that the Taoiseach seemed to be on the point of making a most serious error by his intention to set up a political ethics committee comprising people from outside of the House.
Stressing the importance of politicians retaining the right to set standards for themselves, he said he realised that this would be open to assault by the media.