In an interview in the new issue of  Hot Press, Sebastian Barry talks about how his son coming out as gay had a profound impact on him.

Discussing the Primate of All-Ireland’s Archbishop Eamon Martin’s view that the act of homosexuality is a sin, Sebastian says: “Shut up! We do admire him and he said some good things… But how dare he even think for a moment, or try to get a picture in his head of what that might mean, and to tell us what he means when he knows not only nothing about it but he’s trying to impose his murderous ignorance on somebody else – and he’s supposed to be a caring priest!”

Asked in Hot Press last year whether he saw homosexuality as a sin, Archbishop Eamon Martin said that “to be a homosexual person is not a sin. The church really speaks in terms of our sexuality as something that is open to creation and open to the creation of life. The church sees the proper place for the fullness of the expression of sexuality, that is in terms of sexual intercourse, as something that should happen within marriage.”

He also said that “marriage is between a man and a woman”.

“How dare he trot out his nonsense,” says Barry. “I’ve been at the coalface and I can tell him what he’s saying is potentially murderous.”

In the Hot Press interview, Barry also explains why he’s in favour of repealing the  8^th amendment, discusses how his superstar aunt Mary O’Hara  walked away from fame to become a nun, and talks about the anger he felt after his son was subjected to homophobic treatment.

Barry’s queer-themed novel Days Without End won the Costa Book Award January of this year. It is dedicated to his gay son.