POLISH President Lech Kaczynski was last night described as ignorant and a disgrace to Europe after he suggested that widespread homosexuality would lead to the disappearance of the human race.
He made his remarks just hours before Justice Minister Michael McDowell said in a key Dail debate that Ireland cherished gay people as "equal citizens".
Speaking in Dublin yesterday on the last day of a three-day state visit, the Polish president shocked a large audience by saying "homosexual culture" and sexual orientation should not be promoted as an alternative.
His comments were condemned by gay-rights groups and politicians as "shocking", "inflammatory" and "ignorant".
After launching his tirade against gay culture, the president was treated to lunch by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and a civic reception hosted by Dublin Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson.
Cllr Jackson said he and Mr Ahern had been unaware of the president's comments but that Mr Kaczynski's views were from a "a bygone age".
Speaking at a Forum of Europe meeting in Dublin Castle, Mr Kaczynski, who flew home last night, was asked during a question and answer session about his attitudes to gay people.
To audible gasps, Mr Kaczynski said: "If that kind of approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear.
"Imagine what grand changes would occur in mores if the traditional links between men and women were set aside."
Nonsense
He was responding to Sinn Fein councillor Daithi Doolan who criticised Mr Kaczynski's decision to ban a gay march in Warsaw when he was mayor of the Polish capital in 2004.
Senator David Norris, who says he has been attacked by homophobic Poles here, said the president was a disgrace to the European Community.
"It is certainly completely inappropriate for the president of a friendly state to promote his own ignorance at the expense of Irish citizens who have fought very hard to establish their human and civil rights.
"His nonsense about the threat posed by homosexuality has shown his very limited intelligence and was a betrayal of decent Polish people."
President Kaczynski was grilled about his attitudes to gay people during the question and answer session at the Forum on Europe.
He stood over his decision to ban a gay rights march from Warsaw while mayor of the city in 2004 and rejected allegations that he was homophobic.
"Among my personal friends there are individuals affected by this different sexual orientation, or homosexuality, but they enjoy full rights, they are able to move forward in various spheres of life [in Poland].
"This is a tendency, an orientation that has always existed, I don't know why. I do not intend to combat it, to force them into therapy. But at the same time, I don't think it's appropriate that they should promote their sexual orientation."
The Gay, Lesbian and Equality Network (GLEN) said it was concerned about the "inflammatory" remarks. "There are huge risks to gay people around the world.
"Any kind of inflammatory language is dangerous and upsetting and needs to be monitored very carefully," said its chief executive Keith O'Malley.
Labour party senator Mary Henry said the president's argument was bizarre.
She said she had been shocked by his remarks. "I think his argument that it (homosexuality) would be the end of human kind was really bizarre."
"He kept on saying that the Poles and us were so alike. I'm not so sure about that."
It had been a good thing for people to hear with their own ears the president's "unbelievable views", she added.
Dublin's Lord Mayor Jackson said that while he and Mr Ahern had not been aware of the views expressed by President Kaczynski, he strongly rejected them.
"Those beliefs are of a bygone age. If you don't have a belief that all sections of society have a right to co-exist, you will have intolerance and xenophobia. That would be a tragedy for Poland, which has gone through so much with occupation from neighbours on both sides."
A spokesman for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Minister Michael McDowell said he would not be making any comment on the President's remarks. The Polish embassy in Dublin did not return a call seeking comment.
An idealist, a homophobe and a Eurosceptic
LECH Kaczynski has been praised for his campaign against corruption in Poland but criticised for almost everything else.
Since taking over as president in December 2005, the 57-year-old has set himself a task of promoting traditional family values and demoting those who collaborated with the old communist regime.
He and his identical twin brother Jaroslaw, who is Polish Prime Minister, have succeeded in closing down the country's lawless military intelligence service.
But while the twins' anti-corruption drive has attracted international praise, their attitude to the EU has become an embarrassment.
There have been a series of gaffes, such as President Kaczynski's withdrawal last year from a trilateral summit with France and Germany after a satirical article in a minor German daily newspaper.
The Kaczynskis seem to distrust all foreigners except Americans, and have reduced relations with Germany to a level of icy puzzlement unknown in Poland's recent history.
President Kaczynski tried to play this down yesterday. He said that Poland's opposition to the draft EU constitutional treaty was due to the country's troubled 20th century history, when it spent five years under German control and then more than 50 years under Russian influence.
His views on homosexuality will not cause surprise in Poland. But there are many who wish he had confined his comments to usual platitudes about the Irish economy and Polish-Irish relations.
Michael Brennan and Ciaran Byrne
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| Caption: President of Poland Lech Kaczynski with his wife Maria Kaczynska at the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday | ||