Former porn star dines at Dáil members’ restaurant

Leinster House has long been a place where leading lights of industry, showbiz, and sport have come to visit as guests of the country’s top politicians.

However, the hallowed halls of the newly refurbished house has in recent weeks welcomed the visit of its first porn star, who dined in the members’ restaurant.

The now-retired American porn star, Johnny Hazard or real name Frankie Valenti, was a guest of Seanad leader Jerry Buttimer, the Irish Examiner has confirmed.

The pair have been friends for well over a decade, and but it is understood Mr Buttimer got to know Mr Valenti him after he finished working in the porn industry.

It is understood Mr Valenti was in Ireland on a private holiday and was invited by Mr Buttimer to the restaurant, where they met other Fine Gael members while having their dinner.

“What happened was we went down to the restaurant and they were sitting at the table,” said Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone. “I didn’t know who he was and we sat down and we had dinner at the same table.

“He was a nice old devil and... was at a low ebb when he did [porn] but he has turned his life around. But it is not the normal profession you come across.”

The group later moved into the Dáil bar.

Several sources who met Mr Valenti said he was an engaging and funny person who seemed to be having a good time in Leinster House.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1977, Mr Valenti is described as an “American former pornographic actor, model, and recording artist who performs in gay and bisexual pornographic films for a number of studios, mainly Rascal Video, and has appeared in mainstream film and television productions under his own name”.

He began his career in porn in 2003.

Former porn actor Frankie Valenti was born in Ohio in 1977.

Most of his porn videos were directed by Chi Chi LaRue. In August 2008, he worked on a controversial film directed by LaRue titled Shifting Gears, although he only performed in an all-male scene.

He was also a music reviewer for the now-defunct Frontiers magazine.

According to his Twitter account, Mr Hazard describes himself as “that dude that used to do porn. I’m that dude with all the tattoos that loves trucks, beer and cooking over an open flame.”

When asked for a comment by the Irish Examiner, Mr Buttimer declined to speak.

Mr Buttimer is the leader of the Seanad and a former Cork South-Central TD.

He is the Fine Gael candidate for the next general election alongside Tánaiste Simon Coveney in the constituency.

In April 2012, Mr Buttimer became the first Fine Gael TD to openly declare himself as a gay man and established a Fine Gael LGBT group.

He married his long-term partner, Conchobar Ó Laoghaire, at a ceremony in Cork in 2017.