FURIOUS Mrs Brown's Boys star Rory Cowan has slammed the Kerry priest who condemned gay couples.
Fr Sean Sheehy also told parishioners in St Mary’s Church in Listowel, Co Kerry, that the Government’s promotion of abortion was a sin and blasted a “lunatic approach” to transgenderism.
The stand-in priest — who once provided a character reference to a sex offender — also condemned promiscuity and the distribution of condoms to girls by the HSE.
About 30 people left the church in protest at the controversial homily during Sunday mass.
Commenting on the priest's comments, telly star Rory slammed Fr Sheehy and urged people to ignore him.
The Fair City star said Fr Sheehy's opinions belong in 1922 and not 2022 and hailed Irish laws in place to protect equality among people.
Rory said: "I would just wish everyone would ignore them. They’re making their point of view relevant, and it is not relevant. We’ve laws, we’ve got equality and we’ve got laws now to protect us.
"If he wants to rant and rave about that old s***e…
"Just ignore him… just ignore him... because he is way out of touch. His attitude does not belong in 2022. It really doesn’t. It would’ve been a common place in 1922 but definitely not 2022.
"People are getting very annoyed and very upset about it. That is only making him relevant. We have the laws and we have equality now, we are equal citizens and the laws are there to back us. That’s all I ever wanted.
"He doesn’t impact on my life."
When asked if fellow Mrs Brown's Boys star Brendan O’Carroll would go to hell for dressing as a woman on the hit show, Rory told the Irish Mirror: "I just think that’s terrible. If anyone is going to hell, we’ll be meeting him down there because his attitude is the most unchristian thing."
Fr Sheehy sparked further outrage after saying that gay politicians like Tanaiste Leo Varadkar will “go to hell” if they “don’t repent their sin and seek forgiveness”.
Despite being banned from saying mass after his controversial comments, Fr Sheehy took to the airwaves to reiterate his views.
Fr Sheehy told Kerry Today radio station that gay people “will go to hell”, before he later appeared on Liveline where he argued with the show host Joe Duffy.
He said: "What they are doing is contrary, first of all to the law of nature and secondly, and more importantly, it’s contrary to the law of God."
Varadkar, who is currently in Singapore on a trade mission, said he “profoundly disagrees” with Fr Sheehy’s comments.
'NOT WORTH THE TIME'
A spokesman for the Fine Gael leader said: “The Tánaiste profoundly disagrees with Fr Sheehy’s views, however he respects his right to express his religious beliefs freely.
“The Tánaiste does not believe that gay people will go to hell for being who they are, nor does he believe that any man or woman can make such a judgement.
“As Pope Francis said, “who are we to judge”. As the Bible says, judge not lest you be judged. We are all God’s children.”
Ireland AM's Alan Hughes opened up about his thoughts on the controversy and stated how he's "not worth giving time to".
The Virgin Media presenter has been with his husband Karl Broderick for 29 years.
According to Dublin Live, Alan said: "He’s not even worth giving the time to. He really is.
"I mean we have come so far, and yeah, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and yeah when you look at it he is only doing his teaching, but I think generally people have come on so far.
"But he just isn’t worth even wasting time on it.
"I think everybody knows we have come further than that now and the people who stood up and walked out, and even the reaction we got this morning on the show, saying it is a disgrace and it doesn’t represent Ireland the way we are now.
“But it does represent some people still".
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