Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly has said it was "certainly" a mistake to meet a supporter of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during a trip to Syria in 2018.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Ms Connolly said she met Fares Al-Shehab "in the context of the Chamber of Commerce" for Aleppo, of which he was the head.
However, she added: "In retrospect, when one looks back and sees the comments that he made and you see them, absolutely, this man is utterly unacceptable to me."
She said she travelled to Syria with "a group of activists who had been active in the Palestinian cause", which included former TDs Maureen O'Sullivan, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace.
Ms Connolly said the group "went with a specific purpose of fact-finding on the ground", adding they visited the Yarmouk Palestinian Camp near Damascus, describing it as "destroyed by the Assad regime".
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She said she was "certainly aware of certain matters" ahead of the trip, but "couldn't" remember if she had been told the group would meet supporters of Mr Assad before travelling to Syria as it was six years ago.
But she added before the trip, she was aware there was "an absolute brutal dictatorship in Syria which I abhor", adding "we have to remember that various members of Irish Government, and particularly Micheál Martin, actually met with Assad".
Ms Connolly said Mr Al-Shehabi took the group on a tour of an area where 40,000 factories had been knocked to the ground, adding that she "had absolutely no respect for that man after listening to him for the duration that I listened to him".
"He was the head of the Chamber of Commerce, there was community activists with us and that man was put under serious pressure in relation to questions," she said, adding "were we happy with the answers? Absolutely not".
She said what she got from the meeting was that it "enabled me and made me stronger as a voice for peace and to use our voice at every level in every situation to abhor what's going on".
"I came back a different person in relation to destruction, in relation to dictatorships, in relation to how possibly can we use our voice," she said.
Ms Connolly said she was in a Dáil technical group with Mr Wallace and Ms Daly in 2016, but "that doesn't mean we agreed with everything".
The group, she said, was formed to allow "us to have speaking time".
'I did not and do not support Gemma O'Doherty' - Connolly
Regarding her decision to nominate former journalist Gemma O'Doherty for the presidency in 2018, she said: "When the presidential election comes up all TDs and senators are faced with the dilemma who to nominate.
"It's not the same as supporting someone.
"I did not and do not support Gemma O'Doherty, but I made a decision to be one of many nominees to give her a chance to stand."
On her decision to nominate Ms Doherty, she said: "What I do remember and what led me eventually after thinking about it was that this woman had done some good work in relation to as a journalist, in relation to investigations.
"That's what stood out for me at that time and so I made that decision at that time."
However, she added that nominating an individual is "not the same as endorsing somebody".
"On everything I've done all over my life, when I reflect, I could have always done better and I will just really try to do better in the future," she said.
She added that on occasions she also agreed with the Labour Party and the Government on issues, adding "I am very much an issues person regardless of who's speaking, if the issue is something I agree with".
Ms Connolly said she is on record condemning Russia and supporting sanctions against the country, adding she "would love a discussion on sanctions generally and whether they are effective" and applied "fairly".
"We're not sanctioning Israel," she added.
Ms Connolly said her campaign has been "been a movement from the ground up" originating from her family experiences and roles as a clinical psychologist, barrister, city councillor and teacher.
"I have learned compassion, care and a voice for peace, a voice to reflect the values of people on the ground which are much more than what the Government realises in terms of solidarity with the underdog, with the people of Palestine, with the people of the Ukraine in a fair manner, absolutely standing up against war," she added.
She said she is "particularly delighted" that the Labour Party has made the decision to support her alongside the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and number of independents.
"Other parties are still considering, as, for example, the Green Party and Sinn Féin," she said.
"I absolutely respected their processes," she added.
PBP formally endorse Connolly
Meanwhile, People Before Profit agreed to formally endorse Ms Connolly's presidential bid and it pledged to make a substantial financial contribution to the campaign.
TD Paul Murphy said that the vote should be used as a referendum on the Government and he believes that potentially thousands of party members would help with the Connolly campaign.
Mr Murphy said he is still optimistic that Sinn Féin will give its backing to Ms Connolly.
"I certainly hope they do. I think that is in the interest of the broader left in this country, in terms of developing a united movement," he said.
FF to select candidate week after next
The key Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting to select its presidential candidate is expected to take place the week after next.
The nomination process could open as early as tomorrow and the contest will be decided the following week.
Billy Kelleher and Jim Gavin are seeking the party's nomination, with Mr Gavin getting the backing of more senior ministers today including Norma Foley and Darragh O'Brien.
Both men continued to contact Fianna Fáil politicians throughout the weekend with some of Mr Gavin's calls understood to have lasted more than 30 minutes.
The parliamentary party is made up of 48 TDs, 19 senators and four MEPs.
Hanafin no longer seeking Fianna Fáil presidential nomination
Earlier, former government minister Mary Hanafin ruled herself out of seeking the Fianna Fáil presidential nomination.
She had indicated in June that should would seek the party's nomination.
However, she told RTÉ's Brendan O'Connor show: "I'm going to stay on the bench on this one".
Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin yesterday endorsed former Dublin GAA football manager Jim Gavin as the party's candidate in the upcoming Presidential Election.
Mr Gavin wrote to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party members confirming he would be seeking to be nominated to run in the election, which will take place in late October.
Ms Hanafin said she knew "at the outset" that she could not secure the party nomination "unless I had the backing of the leadership".
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She said that Mr Martin "didn't discourage" her from running for Áras an Uachtaráin after she indicated interest in doing so previously, adding the conversation was "very positive".
"I said my type of campaign would be one which would be around the country going to different events, meeting people, doing the community kind of focus and that I would like to start immediately and he said 'well go ahead and do that', which I actually did," she told the programme.
Ms Hanafin, who held several ministerial posts and elected a TD in 1997, said she was "treated with respect at the very beginning".
However, she added a phone call "would have made a difference just to say 'look, sorry Mary, we're not running with you’ and I would have accepted that".
"Unfortunately, in Fianna Fáil you tend to read an awful lot in the newspapers," she said.
"So I could see that I wasn't getting favourable comment in the newspaper, but I was on a flight back from my holidays last Monday morning and soon as I landed, I opened it up and I saw Jim Gavin. I said that's it."
The former minister described former taoiseach Bertie Ahern's experience seeking the Fianna Fáil nomination as "worse" than her own.
Mr Ahern said on Friday that he was not ruling himself out of seeking a nomination for president, but expressed disappointment with the Fianna Fáil leadership for failing to support him.
Ms Hanafin said: "He's a former taoiseach, he's a former party leader, he should have been told 'sorry, this is not a runner."
She said she did not see a pathway for Mr Ahern to secure the nomination as "half of the parliamentary party has either been appointed ministers, junior ministers, committee chairs or has been appointed to the Senate, so there's a huge sense of loyalty to the party leader there".
In relation to Billy Kelleher's aim to achieve the party nomination, she said: "Whether Billy can move beyond Cork, move beyond Munster would be a question."
She added it is "very hard to win a battle in the parliamentary party if you do not have the backing of the party leader".
When asked if the presidential nomination matter could leave scars within the party, she said: "It won't leave a scar if we win."
Meanwhile, Minister for Children Norma Foley has become the latest high-profile Fianna Fáil TD to row in behind Mr Gavin's bid to become the party's presidential candidate.
She told RTÉ's This Week that she was "absolutely, 100% backing Jim Gavin", describing him as a "man of tremendous ability".
In relation to My Kelleher's own campaign, she said she is "not about supporting one and denigrating another".
Ms Foley said: "I know, Billy. I've known him for many, many years, he's an excellent public representative.
"But I do think when you're making a judgment call on the presidency, you need a president of the time and of the now.
"I think Jim Gavin, as I've already outlined, has many, many characteristics that make him an appropriate."
Additional reporting by Mícheál Lehane
