The Speaker of the US House of Representatives has been heard on mic referring to people from Kilkenny and Tipperary as "pig thieves or horse thieves".

Paul Ryan made the remarks when greeting a fellow congressman, Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan, at his swearing-in yesterday.

Ryan's own family has roots in County Kilkenny, and he keeps the county's hurling jersey in his office.

He was asking Tim Ryan whether they had links to Kilkenny or to Tipperary when he made the remarks, which were caught by TV microphones: