Donal Óg Cusack says that Martin O'Neill's 'queers' remark shows that Irish sport still has a long way to go in terms of its relationship to the LGBT community.
Last year, at an event held prior to Euro 2016, O'Neill made an ill-advised joke at the Cork Opera House.
When asked by host Matt Cooper about his and Roy Keane's trip to last year's Super Bowl in San Francisco, O'Neill said that coaches Steve Guppy and Steve Walford had also travelled as he didn't want people to think that he and Keane were 'queers'.
Speaking in an interview with Off The Ball, the full version of which will air this Saturday, Cusack said that at best O'Neill's comments were ignorant.
Martin O'Neill is a great man, right.
When I heard Martin O'Neill's comments a year ago or whatever it was, I was disgusted. Why I was disgusted when I heard those comments was, I thought of the young kid playing soccer, 14 years of age, boy or girl in Ireland and they're thinking that Martin O'Neill made these comments that to me were just ignorant at best.
Then his apology was so poor. He was talking in the Roy Keane context but I was thinking of the 13 or 14-year-old kid who was saying, 'Oh no. This isn't for me.'
I would like think that the Martin O'Neill school of thinking is like something you'd see out of Jurassic Park. They're fine but you don't want them turning up in your garden this evening running around the place.
You can watch the interview with Off The Ball below.
