Rory Cowan, who plays gay character Rory Brown on ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, said claims that he did charity cycle for his own benefit are ‘vile’.

The gay actor spoke on RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline yesterday following a fight that broke out between him and a Wexford mother of two on Facebook.

Cowan wrote about cycling 10km in aid of Irish Autism Action on his Facebook profile, to which Teresa Buckley responded, questioning where the money he raised was going. A heated exchange between the two ensued, which can be read here.

“I just have to say, I didn’t take anything out of context,” he said on Liveline. “I have the Facebook posts in front of me. She said I did the cycle for my own benefit and picked a cause out of the blue and this was the extent of me raising awareness for autism.

“She said I should educate myself about autism as I haven’t a clue because I don’t have a personal knowledge about an illness I’m raising money for. They’re vile comments to make.”

Mrs Buckley said that she had posted her comment in the context of recent controversies surrounding charites, adding that she felt it was important people have a background knowledge of the charity and the condition they are donating towards.

“We [Mrs Brown’s Boys] have done shows in the 3Arena where the money was donated to IAA, Childline and SVP,” Cowan responded. “We’ve done that the last three times we were in the 3Arena. I’ve been supporting autism charities for a long, long time and she’s telling me I’ve no knowledge about it.”

Cowan will be narrating the much-awaited Irish version of Gogglebox on TV3 this autumn alongside comedian, Deirdre O’Byrne.