A Catholic priest refused to give communion to Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy at a recent funeral mass because the politician supported the introduction of legalised abortion services.

Fr John Hogan, parish priest of Multyfarnham in Co Westmeath, withheld the host from Troy on January 4 during a requiem mass at St Nicholas’s parish church in the diocese of Meath.

Troy, who had been regarded as “anti-choice”, revealed last month in an interview with Hot Press magazine that he voted yes in the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment last May. Last week the TD said he would “be making no comment on the matter”. Attempts by The Sunday Times to contact Hogan were unsuccessful.

The priest, who has been a regular presenter on EWTN,