Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it "wasn't great" that he and Conor McGregor ended up leading the Chicago St Patrick’s Day Parade together last week.
While he was happy to take part in the parade, Mr Varadkar said he wasn't specifically walking with the UFC star, who he said had "trouble with the law in recent months.”
McGregor was recently arrested and charged with robbing a fan's phone outside a Miami nightclub.
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He was also convicted in New York of attacking a bus with a rail.
The Taoiseach told the Irish Mirror: “I was happy to walk in the parade on Chicago, but I wasn’t specifically walking with him (McGregor).
“As I understand he was there with the mayor.
“I didn’t go to great lengths at all, we happened to be at the same event.
“I was there at the parade at the invitation of the organisers.
“Conor McGregor was there I believe at the invitation of the plumbers’ union.
“Obviously he’s had some trouble with the law in recent months and I wouldn’t condone or like to be associated with the kind of acts he’s been involved in, which include prosecution in New York and potential prosecution in Miami."
