Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Hungarians and Irish people get on very well as he responded to comments made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Yesterday, Mr Orbán wrote on social media appealing to Mr Martin to "not ruin the love story" between Irish and Hungarian patriots.
His criticism followed an interview by Mr Martin on Euronews where he outlined his concerns around Hungary's continual use of the European Council veto particularly in the context of Ukraine along with a lack of basic rights for the LGBTQ+ community.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet Mr Martin said unfortunately the LGBTQ+ community is not afforded the same rights in Hungary "to the same extent" as they are in other EU countries.
"That is an issue for other European countries," he said.
Mr Martin said he has met Mr Orbán before and discussed several issues.
"I am a fair person but I do believe the European Union needs to continually assert the good aspects of the union in terms of freedom of speech, free media, quality of life for people."
He said Europe is a strong place for quality of life despite the challenges.
During the Euronews interview last week, Mr Martin said that the European Union should pursue all instruments it has to stop an "unreasonable exploitation" of the veto mechanism, arguing that it could make the EU unworkable.
Mr Martin accused Mr Orbán of "unreasonably exploiting" the veto at council meetings.
On social media yesterday morning, Mr Orbán said: "For us, Ireland is a symbol of liberty and sovereignty. For this reason, it is always shocking when we see that an Irish patriot chooses to stand on the side of an empire instead of national sovereignty. "
Mr Martin said today: "I don’t call it an empire as Prime Minister Orbán does. "I don’t understand that language."
