An Irish Catholic Bishop has sparked religious outrage after claiming that gay people who have children are not necessarily parents.

The Christian group, Faith in Marriage Equality have heavily criticised comments from the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Kevin Doran, who said that gay people who already have children are not parents.

In an interview on Newstalk’s Breakfast show this morning about the upcoming referendum on marriage equality, presenter Chris O’Donoghue said to Dr Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, that lesbians and gay men across Ireland were parents, to which the Bishop responded:

“They’re not parents.”

When O’Donoghue challenged Doran about this, the Bishop replied:

“They may have children but that’s the difference, you see that’s the point, people who have children are not necessarily parents.”

Dr Richard O’Leary of Faith in Marriage Equality has responded saying “not all people of faith share Bishop Doran’s view that gay parents are not parents”.

Dr O’Leary added that “Bishop Doran should not seek to marginalise gay parents, but rather he should acknowledge that parenting is about the quality of the love that the parents provide.”

Bishop Doran said that extending marriage to same sex couples would undermine other marriages in Ireland. Dr O’Leary rejected this assertion, saying that that “the referendum is about civil marriage and not about religious marriage and that Bishop Doran should not seek to prevent access to civil marriage”.

Dr Doran also claimed this morning that he believes “the jury’s out” on whether people are born gay.