Mr Holohan said that he would like a "family man" and "someone who knows what it's like to have kids" running the country.

Sinn Fein's Paddy Holohan is under fire after "bizarre" comments he made about Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The former MMA fighter turned South County Dublin councillor has said he would like a "family man" and "someone who knows what it's like to have kids" running the country.

Speaking to Ibrahim Halawa on his "No Shame" podcast, Mr Holohan said: “We need people running the country — and not against Leo — but to me, I want a family man running the country.


"Someone that knows what it’s like to have kids, maybe, hopefully, boys and girls, so when you’re creating policies and stuff that’s going to go on, you’re like: 'right, that makes sense'.

"I know what it’s like to collect my young fella from school so I know what school time traffic is like.

"When I’m making decisions, I can have an experience of it and bring that into the equation.

“Leo as a person, we talked last week that he had the potential to be one of the greatest leaders ever, but if you pick out people in the country: the man that is a family man that goes to work, looks after his kids, has come up through the system, has experience, maybe is a solicitor as well so has that experience, that’s who should be running the country.

“Someone who knows what the masses of people are going through.”


Fine Gael TD Noel Rock has since blasted Holohan for his comments, calling them "bizarre" and "insulting".

"What does it mean in his view — straight people need only apply to be ­Taoiseach? Is this the official Sinn Fein line now?," asked Mr Rock.

“I don’t have kids either, but I know what traffic is like. Does he think people without kids don’t drive? Or that they’re not fit to lead the country too?

“These are bizarre, embarrassing, insulting comments.”