Senator David Norris has said the re-emergence of comments about the age of consent and incest is an attempt to sabotage his campaign to secure a nomination for the presidential election.
The remarks attributed to Mr Norris originally appeared in an article by journalist Helen Lucy Burke in Magill magazine in 2002.
On RTE's Today With Pat Kenny programme, Mr Norris said the comments were taken out of context and were not direct quotes.
“I abhor the abuse of children. Sexual, emotional and physical,” he said.
Mr Norris said he was upset and angry Ms Burke had chosen this moment to refer back to a previous article. He has described it as an attempt to “sabotage” his campaign.
He said it was not true that he had cleared everything in the article. Ms Burke had telephoned him and read him two paragraphs, to which he had sought a correction. This had not been done.
He questioned why a 10-year-old interview, which he described as "an academic discussion" about ancient Greece, was surfacing now. He had responded to the interview "comprehensively" on radio and in other interviews after it took place.
“I don’t know why she’s doing it and I’d like to know.”
Mr Norris rejected Ms Burke's inference that he was endorsing incest and he said he had been discussing, as a legislator, situations in society where "the greatest damage" was likely.
"I don’t think anybody would disagree with the fact that the greatest damage is done where there is a brutal incest case and there is a resulting pregnancy. Incest is illegal. I am a legislator. Do people think that I have lost my reason altogether? That I would be advocating criminal behaviour?”
On the phrase "free range sexuality" used in the Magill interview, Mr Norris said that was the phrase used by the journalist.
"It is not my phrase."
He said that when the question was put, he was thinking about it in context in this country and noted that in Iran men were killed for homosexual relationships.
"We do have wide choices. But I clearly said that they were within limits. And I said that people have to take responsibility for their actions. I never endorsed paedophilia. I never endorsed incest. And I think it’s the lowest blow."
Mr Norris said he had been "foolish" to engage in an academic discussion about ancient Greece with a restaurant critic and that he should have walked out of the interview at the time. He appealed to people to examine his deeds over a 35-year political career.
Ms Burke, he said, had also delivered "the lowest blow of all" in an interview on RTE's Liveline yesterday when she made an inference about a trip he had made to Thailand.
“I was on a United Nations mission to prevent sexual exploitation of women and children to prevent sex abuse. And I told Helen Lucy Burke that. He said she had "left the thing hanging" during the interview after making reference to Mr Norris going "off on a holiday to Thailand".
Mr Norris also said that if the tapes of the interview were made available, people should listen to them carefully and note that the stops and starts and where there was editorialising in the Magill article.
“I hope all those who are maliciously spreading this inaccurate, misleading, misquotation out of context stuff, I hope they are all deeply ashamed…because they should be ashamed. And I am ashamed of them.”
Ms Burke said she felt compelled to republicise the original interview before the election so the public would have all available information. Ms Burke said she has found a cassette tape, which she believes is the recording of the interview but does not have a machine on which to play it.
Mr Norris called on Ms Burke to make the tape widely available as he believes it will clearly show that he did not make the controversial remarks.
Ms Burke appeared on RTÉ's Liveline yesterday to express her opposition to Mr Norris's bid for the presidency.
On his Twitter account later, Mr Norris said he did not wish to see any attack on Ms Burke.
He told followers: “My commitment has always been to contest and win this race for the Presidency with dignity; without negativity or personal attacks.”
“I am hugely grateful for your support and reiterate that I don’t want to see Ms Burke personally attacked for her role in this matter.”