Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he "profoundly disagrees" with a Kerry priest who said gay politicians are going to hell if they do not repent.
Mr Varadkar, who is on a trade mission in Singapore this week, was singled out by Fr Seán Sheehy who also claimed that being gay is "against nature".
A spokesperson for the Fine Gael leader said: "The Tánaiste profoundly disagrees with Fr Sheehy’s views; however he respects his right to express his religious beliefs freely.
"The Tánaiste does not believe that gay people will go to hell for being who they are, nor does he believe that any man or woman can make such a judgment. As Pope Francis said: 'Who are we to judge'. As the Bible says: 'Judge not lest you be judged. We are all God’s children'."
Earlier today Fr Seán Sheehy said the Tánaiste and other gay politicians are “absolutely” going to hell if they do not repent their sins and seek forgiveness.
Fr Seán Sheehy has doubled down on his comments after he described same-sex relationships and transgenderism as mortal sins on Sunday.
Fr Sheehy — who was deputising for parish priest Canon Declan O’Connor — has since been taken off the roster in Listowel by the Bishop of Kerry Dr Ray Browne.
The bishop on Tuesday apologised for the comments made by Fr Sheehy, saying he was aware of “the deep upset and hurt” the comments had caused. Bishop Browne said the views expressed were not representative of Christianity.
Fr Sheehy had also delivered a similarly controversial homily at the Saturday vigil mass, according to Listowel locals.
In an interview on Radio Kerry on Wednesday, Fr Sheehy doubled down and elaborated on his position, saying sin was “embedded in modern culture and enshrined in legislation”.
"People think because there's no law against it, it’s ok. But that’s not true,” Fr Sheehy told the programme.
He added that scripture taught that the sinner had to be admonished and this was done out of love in order to bring them to eternal life.
Fr Sheehy also said compassion was misunderstood — being compassionate meant telling the truth to people doing something wrong.
“The truth hurts, but it sets us free,” he said.
Fr Sheehy insisted all he was doing was preaching scripture and Catholic doctrine.
“It’s not fundamentalism it’s the word of God," he added.
While around 30 people had left the church on Sunday, others remained. And on Tuesday morning, he claimed he got a standing ovation at the end of mass.
Asked about politicians legislating for same-sex marriage, and about gay politicians including Leo Varadakar, and if they were going to hell, Fr Sheehy said: “Absolutely, if they don’t repent of their sin and seek forgiveness. Absolutely. Absolutely.
“What they're doing is first of all against nature and secondly and most importantly contrary to the law of God," Fr Sheehy said.
He added that everyone was prone to sin and while a small percentage of homosexuality may very well be biological mostly this behaviour was “nurture, and environment, not nature”.
He had seen in the US how some psychologists were successful in helping people in that respect. However, the media had come down on the therapists.
Reacting to the bishop's comments on RTÉ Radio's , Fr Sheehy suggested Bishop Browne needed to "read the catechism and also read the scriptures as well."
Defending his remarks, Fr Sheehy said he spoke to the Bishop and told him that he had "sacrificed truth in order to appease people who do not want to face the reality of sin," which he said was "embedded in the culture and enshrined in legislation."
Fr Sheehy went on to say that Church teaching "does not change."
Later in the interview, Fr Sheehy suggested that those mass attendees who walked out of his homily in Listowel on Sunday had done so because they "did not want to face either their own sinfulness or the sinfulness of members of their family."
He said that those who left were walking away "from the same word that Jesus spoke himself".
"They weren't walking away from me. They were actually walking away from Jesus," he suggested.
Fr Sheehy also hit out at Kerry TD Norma Foley saying he expected her not to implement the school sex education programme.
The Education Minister, who is regarded as a Catholic, "speaks out of both sides of her mouth," the priest told the .
She, as Education Minister, did nothing to address the “horrible” sex education programme even though people had expected different of her.
"I expected her not to implement that programme. God does not like hypocrisy”, he said.
Fr Sheehy, who returned to Kerry from Baton Rouge in Louisiana in the US in 2007, has been embroiled in controversy before after he shook hands with and supplied a character reference for convicted sex offender Danny Foley of Listowel in Tralee Circuit Court in 2009.