Labour leadership candidate Mr Brendan Howlin yesterday spoke in detail of rumours that have shadowed his personal life in the last number of years.
Mr Howlin was speaking after an interview was published in the Star newspaper yesterday, in which he rejected rumours that he was gay.
The Star quoted Mr Howlin as saying: "Anybody who is single ultimately in modern times is assumed to be gay. I'm not.
"I haven't found somebody that I want to share my life with. I haven't found that woman yet. I haven't given up on that prospect.
"Nobody else has broached that issue but it is an issue that should be broached because I don't want whispers about it."
Speaking on RTE's Liveline yesterday, Mr Howlin said that rumours can "become embedded in people's heads as fact".
"Somebody's sexuality as far as I am concerned is of absolutely no relevance," he said.
"I answered a direct question directly, that's the long and the short of it," he said.
"It was one sentence in a 20-minute interview."
Mr Howlin said he didn't want the issue to dominate his campaign and he did not "prompt" the question about his sexuality or "ask for it to be asked".
". . . I made a decision in my own mind that if somebody asked this question, I would answer it as frankly and honestly as I could."
Ms Róisín Shortall TD, who announced on Thursday night she would run for the party leadership, responded to the article published in the Star on RTÉ's Morning Ireland yesterday. She said she was "glad the matter has been dealt with".
When asked by Joe Duffy about Ms Shortall's response, Mr Howlin said that she was obviously aware things had been "whispered around, as if it was a negative thing".
"If you believe, as I believe, that it's a matter of no substance, I wasn't going to get excited about it one way or another," he said.
Mr Howlin spoke about a poster campaign that linked him to another public personality - a person he believed he never met. He also received hate mail mentioning the rumours he was gay.
"The day after I announced my candidature, I got the first of the hate mail again, right down to the little bit of white powder in it as well, that I was supposed to believe was anthrax.
"It's mostly to do with my stand on refugees . . . and then it goes on to Nigger lover and everything else.
". . . I don't want to be a martyr in any of this. I have a stand on a number of clear issues. I have been the subject of vigorous campaigns, not only on this issue.
"My house was picketed by Youth Defence, my office was picketed . . .
". . . These are things that if you take a strong line in politics happen to you," he added.
Mr Howlin said he supported everything in the party's manifesto, including the legal recognition of gay marriages and he supported the legalisation of homosexual acts.
"I'm a libertarian in all these matters," he said.
". . . I want to put this to bed," he said. "I am going to finish talking about it today.
"People can believe what they like, accept what they like and judge me only on what I have done and what I am," he said.