An Australian commentator has apologised for controversial remarks he made about Ireland on live TV.

Grahame Morris claimed the country has a "mutant lawn weed" as its national symbol and people "can't verbalise the difference between tree and the number three".

Speaking on Sky News Australia, he made several claims about Ireland and the Irish people.

"...I love the Irish and half the (Australian) parliament's full of Irishmen, but these are people who can't grow potatoes, they've got a mutant lawn weed as their national symbol and they can't verbalise the difference between a tree and the number three."

Scroll to 7.10 to hear Morris' comments on the Irish.

He was complaining after a member of the opposition, Tanya Plibersek, had said her party was going to table a vote on same-sex marriage, following the Yes vote for marriage equality here.

Howard, who is a former chief of staff for Prime Minister John Howard, said Australians were not ready for a referendum on gay marriage as it would be too divisive.

He said: "You run around Queensland, the Bush, and most of Western Australia and you can see people aren’t ready. This vote is going to be divisive and I don’t think most of the parties in parliament are ready to change. It isn’t a life and death decision."

However speaking again to Sky News, Morris admitted he had got himself into a "hell of a pickle" over the comments about Ireland, and said he's "very sorry".

He described his comments as a "tasteless attempt at 'Morris' humour".