Politicians take themselves too seriously, the comedian Dermot Morgan said yesterday. He was responding to criticism of his television sketch in which he described the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, as a “Longford knacker”.

“I can scarcely believe people can sustain outrage on this one. It’s the knockabout end of the satirical spectrum,” he said.

Mr Morgan said he was not impugning Mr Reynolds. He suggested that the politicians “should really focus their outrage on something like the Smyth case.”

Claiming that political disapproval had led to the cancellation of the Scrap Saturday satirical radio series in which he was involved, Mr Morgan, added “It really is time to grow up, it’s a nonsense.

Mr Morgan made his controversial remark during the televised presentation of the National Entertainment Awards at the National Concert Hall in Dublin this week.

Mr Peter Kelly, a Longford publican and member of Fianna Fail’s national executive, said Mr Morgan should apologise. There was generally angry reaction in the town: “They’re mad over it. One man nearly put his foot through the television.”

A constituency colleague of Mr Reynolds, the former Justice Minister, Mr Sean Doherty, quipped: “A knacker is a person who deals in the slaughter of horses; I have never known Albert to be engaged in the horse trade other than as a good punter.

“If it was said at another time it would probably seem less insensitive, but Albert Reynolds is not going to tear his hair out over it. Dermot Morgan is an entertainer and only by his audience will he know the success of his comments,” Mr Doherty said.