SINN FÉIN COUNCILLOR and former MMA fighter Paddy Holohan has been suspended from the party with immediate effect, following criticism of comments he made about Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and women.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who is out canvassing in Bray Co Wicklow today, described his comments as “upsetting” and “beyond offensive”. 

After the south Dublin councillor’s comments about Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were criticised by politicians from all parties yesterday, Holohan issued a short apology to say that they had been “misinterpreted”. 

The comments were made on two separate episodes of his podcast ‘No Shame’.

When discussing Varadkar, Holohan said during his latest episode that he believed a “family man with children” should run the country because it would give them a better understanding of certain policies.

He also said that Varadkar was “separated from society” because of his Indian heritage, despite Varadkar being born and raised in Dublin. He said:

“Leo Varadkar’s blood obviously runs to India. His great-grandfather is not part of the history of this country. Now Leo obviously is.”

Following the comments he made, Mary Lou and Varadkar himself said that they had accepted the councillor’s apology, with Varadkar saying that it was “good enough for me”.

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Today, Joe.ie highlighted further comments from the No Shame podcast, where Holohan claimed that “loads” of underage girls were having sex with men in order to blackmail them.

This afternoon, the Sinn Féin party said on Twitter that “Paddy Holohan has been suspended from Sinn Féin with immediate effect, and a disciplinary process has been initiated.”

Reacting to the suspension, McDonald told reporters including the Irish Independent that she didn’t “have a term to express my deep deep anger and upset at those remarks”.