Homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as everyone else, but if homosexuality were "freely promoted" as a lifestyle the human race could disappear, Polish president Lech Kaczynski told the National Forum on Europe yesterday.
Dr Kaczynski was challenged by several forum delegates at Dublin Castle about his controversial decisions when he was mayor of Warsaw to ban gay rights marches two years in a row, in 2004 and 2005.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins brought up Dr Kaczynski's stance on the "democratic rights of gay people" and added: "Do you still stand by your suppression of their rights when you were mayor of Warsaw?" Labour TD Joe Costello also brought up the issue of "homophobia".
He added: "I would like to elaborate on that in the context of our shared European values." Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan also recalled the Warsaw march ban and urged the president to adopt a position of "tolerance, not bigoted homophobia".
Speaking through an interpreter, Dr Kaczynski said: "I am not a homophobe." Some of his "personal friends" were homosexuals, and "they enjoy full rights". It was another matter to suggest that homosexuality could be "freely promoted" and "treated as one of several choices".
"I reject that," said the president, who was on the second and final day of his State visit. If homosexuality were to be promoted "on a grand scale", he added, "the human race would disappear". The president also rejected a claim by Mr Higgins that the Polish government was conducting a "witch-hunt" against people who had been obliged against their will, according to Mr Higgins, to collaborate with the former Stalinist regime.
"There's no witch-hunt in Poland," Dr Kaczynski replied. Former communist agents were unmasked at an early stage in Germany and the former Czechoslovakia: "It was done earlier in other countries and only now are we starting to deal with this problem." On the issue of the treaty for an EU constitution, the president said the first question to be posed was, "whether or not it is really necessary". It was two years and 10 months since Polish accession: "We do not see any deep crisis in terms of decision-making processes in the EU."
Reporting on a conversation the previous day with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Dr Kaczynski said Ireland believed the current draft treaty should be adopted "with some small corrections". But today's Poland had enjoyed independence since only 1989 and was "sensitive" about limitations on its sovereignty.
No Government Ministers or Ministers of State attended the session and the Fianna Fáil delegation was led by Senator Martin Mansergh. Fianna Fáil delegate Una McGurk challenged the president on his call for a debate on the reintroduction of the death penalty.
Detection was "the biggest deterrent", she argued.
Dr Kaczynski said he was against having a situation where murderers could say to their victims, "You will not live and I will live." He added that it was wrong to give a guarantee to murderers that they would remain alive after their crimes.
Later, the president and his wife, Maria, were welcomed at a civic reception by Dublin City Council at the Mansion House, where Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson praised the contribution of Polish immigrants to Irish society. "They are highly intelligent, hard-working people, contributing hugely to the success of the Irish economy," he said.
He presented the president with a bowl made of Waterford crystal. The president in turn presented the mayor with a historical portrait of Warsaw.