By Megan O'Brien
Independent TD Mattie McGrath has compared Ireland to 1930's Nazi Germany in relation to the vaccination programme and Government's decisions on indoor dining.
His comments have been widely criticised and the Auschwitz Memorial account on Twitter said the comments were a "sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline".
They also tweeted Deputy McGrath and sent him a free online course about the holocaust.
Speaking outside the Dáil earlier, the Tipperary deputy defended the comparison to Nazi Germany:
"Huge correlations, exactly the same if you want to study it, exactly the same restrictions of movements, they couldn't go where they wanted to go.
I'm comparing what went on in early Germany, the people had such fear, that's what happened. So I am comparing it yes."
The comments were also condemned by Minister of State Thomas Byrne who said:
"Nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to Nazi Germany. Every comparison made diminishes the memory of that unique evil, and the slaughter of millions of Jews."
