Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick

The Taoiseach has apologised for incendiary comments he made yesterday which stereotyped priests as hypocrites.

Speaking in Dublin Castle today, Leo Varadkar apologised for his remarks in which he compared Micheál Martin to “one of those parish priests who preaches from the altar, telling us to avoid sin while secretly going behind the altar and engaging in any amount of sin himself”.

Before a meeting with members of the Government and representatives of almost 30 different churches and faith communities, the Taoiseach withdrew his statement and said he has huge respect for the Catholic Church, for priests and their “sacrifice”.

“I said something in the heat of debate yesterday. It was rather bitter and personal debate on both sides, but in doing so I offended a lot of people who I never intended to offend and I am sorry for that. I do apologise and I’m going to withdraw the remarks,” he said.

“I have immense respect for priests and the sacrifice they give really, in the lives that they lead. I have immense respect for people of faith and it didn’t come out the way I intended it.”

When asked if he had respect for the Catholic Church he answered “I do absolutely”.

“In many ways today is the evidence of that,” he said, “the fact that I’ve reconvened this Church/State dialogue which hasn’t existed since 2007: because I believe that the Church and the Church’s faith organisations have a role to play in our society.”

“I don’t believe that we should have a fully secularised society in the sense that the Church and religion should be banished from society, but I think they have a role to play, not the role that was played in the past, but a role that can still be very relevant and is very relevant in Irish life, and that’s what I talked about during the papal position, new covenants that could exist between Church and faith and state, and that’s why I convened this event, so the timing [of his remarks yesterday] was not the best.”

The Taoiseach’s retraction comes after receiving he backlash from growing number of people who called for him to apologise.

Earlier today Fr Tony Flannery, a founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests which represents over 1,000 clergymen, called on Mr Varadkar to withdraw his comments, branding them “unfair”.

Likewise, Senator Rónán Mullen challenged the Taoiseach on the remarks and said it was “not acceptable, at this moment in our history when clergy are fewer and older but continue to do good work, to make a mocking, stigmatising remark like that, whether for its own sake or in order to attack a political opponent”.

He added that if somebody made a similarly stigmatising throwaway remark about gay community leaders or spokespersons for the travelling community, they would be rightly criticised.

“So if he is mindful of this context, why would the Taoiseach invoke a trope, a stereotype of a hypocritical, sinning priest? At best, it is a decision to play to a very unpleasant gallery of anticlerical people. At worse, it might be the expression of some deep-seated hidden dislike on his part.

“I hope the Taoiseach will reflect on his remarks and come back with something more generous,” he concluded.

Today will be the first Church/faith/State dialogue since 2007. Mr Varadkar said: “It’s much bigger than it would have been in 2007 which reflects how diverse and multicultural Ireland has become.”

“When the Pope was in Ireland last August, I said that I wanted there to be a new covenant between faith and between state, one in which faith is not perhaps the centre of life in Ireland anymore, but is still very much a part of us.

“This event really is part of that process to have Government engage in a structured way with churches and religious bodies and also faith-based organisations. So, I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out, but I hope it’s going to be the start of a more structured relationship and more structured dialogue similar to unions and employers and social practices.”