The comments come in the wake of a heated row involving Adele King, who is a judge on RTE's talent show, Class Act.

There was uproar when it emerged the winner of last Sunday's show was an expupil of Twink's stage school, and that her mother had been a teacher there. Twink did not mention the connection on the show and it came to light only when musical tutor Stephanie Elliot voiced her concerns on RTE's Liveline last Monday.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune this weekend, the director of the Irish Board of Speech and Drama, David Meredith, said it was "common sense" that a judge could not be seen to be objective if their past pupils were among the entrants in a competition.

"I can't comment on the RTE show specifically, because I didn't see it and I don't know enough about it, " said Meredith. "However, if I was a teacher in Dublin, and I was asked to adjudicate a competition in Dublin, I would make sure that there weren't any of my students or past students in the competition. And I would expect any other teacher to do the same.

Otherwise it would be a clear conflict of interest. I think that's just common sense.

Because even if you think you could be objective, there is a perceived unfairness among the other competitors."

The director of the National Performing Arts School, Jill Doyle, said Twink should have disclosed immediately that she knew the competitor.

"If it happens that you come across someone you know, the least you should do is lay all the cards on the table and say it outright, " she said. "I think it's difficult to be objective when you know someone well, no matter how hard you try."

It was a difficult situation for Twink, according to Joanna Banks, artistic director of the College of Dance in Monkstown, Dublin.

"It's extremely problematic because Twink has such a large school that she probably knows half the children in Dublin, " she said. "It might not be impossible but it's certainly very difficult to be totally objective if you're judging a past pupil. Obviously Twink is a professional, and maybe she could be objective, but the real problem is no one will believe her. She is not being seen to be objective. And that's very hard for the child involved as well."

Defending her position on RTE last week, Twink said she knew several of the children on the show but that this had no effect on her decision-making. An RTE spokeswoman said Twink was not giving any more interviews about the show, and the Sunday Tribune's efforts to contact her this weekend were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, revisiting the 'zip up your mickey' phone message to her estranged husband David Agnew during a prerecorded RTE interview yesterday, Twink said she had no regrets.

"If I had to repeat that conversation tomorrow, I would. It didn't take a feather out of me, " she said on Conversations With Eamon Dunphy. "As a matter of fact, I bought some really sassy mousemats that have 'zip up your mickey' on them.

There's a clock in my office, there's all sorts of merchandising. I bought them. . .on the internet, just to see if it was for real.

This box arrived . . . my girls didn't think it was remotely funny but I was falling around the kitchen laughing."

'YOU CRAWLED OUT FROM UNDER A ROCK'

WHAT TWINK SAID ON 'LIVELINE' TO STEPHANIE ELLIOT, THE MUSIC TUTOR WHO QUESTIONED HER OBJECTIVITY: "If Osama Bin Laden's child was on that programme and he threatened to send a hit squad to my house if I didn't put that child through, I wouldn't."

"I am sickened to the pit of my stomach that the caller was Stephanie bloody Elliot. I don't know what her gripe is. I gave her more breaks than a Kit-Kat in this business."

"Nobody knows who the hell you are. I heard you mention some ridiculous comparison to me with Kerry Katona.

Get a life, Stephanie."

"What gives you the right, Stephanie . . . you, teaching someone in Inchicore? You've crawled out from under a rock. None of us ever knew that you were still in existence as a dancer, not to mention a teacher."

"At the risk of slapping my own back Joe, I know what a truthful, honest, tellit-like-it-is . . . and so do you, Joe . . .person that I am."