FORMER MINISTER Willie O’Dea has said critics of Limerick comedy hip-hop duo Rubberbandits’ song Horse Outsideneeded to “get a life”, saying they were just “having a laugh”.

The video accompanying the song has received almost 1.5 million views on YouTube in just five days and is the second most tweeted video in the world.

Mr O’Dea, the subject of another of the duo’s songs which portrayed him selling hash to make ends meet after resigning from the Dáil, was rejecting suggestions by callers to RTÉ’s LiveLineyesterday that the song promoted drug use and was extremely vulgar. “I can laugh at myself. I was remorselessly lampooned by them and I didn’t ring you. They portray me selling hash and swearing on my tash that it’s decent hash,” he said.

“If you don’t like it don’t watch it. I don’t support drug usage. I support a group that laughs at that. For heaven’s sake, get a life. If it gets to Number 1 for Christmas it will reflect well on Limerick.”

Former lord mayor of Dublin Eibhlín Byrne rang the programme to say she was appalled by Mr O’Dea’s support for the song. Mr O’Dea dismissed her views saying she was “obviously from a different political party”. He was forced to apologise when it was pointed out to him Ms Byrne is a member of the Fianna Fáil party.

Band member Blindboy Boathouse denied the song glamorised drug-taking, saying it was a “piece of art” and was “not meant to be taken literally”.

Earlier, the duo stood in front of Leinster House and denied they were in competition with X Factorwinner Matt Cardle for the Christmas Number 1 in the Irish charts. “People keep talking about the X Factor, and we’ve never heard of it. We thought we saw it once but it might have been that One Foot in the Grave,” they said.

Their horse did not make an appearance as, according to the pair, he was relaxing in their hotel room “eating a toasted sandwich and watching the news”. Asked whether they had a message for politicians in the Dáil, the pair said Brian Cowen should “cop on and get a good horse. It’d save on fuel.”

Several photographers nearly came to blows in their bid to snap the pair, leading them to say, “You should start a new boy band called the Bickering Photographers.”

Paddy Power say Horse Outsideis now odds on favourites at 8/11 to be the Christmas No 1, with Matt Cardle’s When We Collide drifting to even money.