MORE BY-ELECTION NEWS, ANALYSIS AND CANDIDATE PROFILES

one that says immigration and migration have made our economy stronger, we rely on a lot of migrants to run our public services. They would not function without them, particularly the health service, and also migration has enriched Ireland’s society and culture.

‘There is a difference between legal migration, which I support, and illegal migration, which any good government has to try and stop. We all need to be very cautious in what language we use. This has been a learning experience not just for Verona Murphy but for anyone involved in politics.’

On Wednesday Murphy focused on meeting people on the streets of Wexford and in the shops and brought Mr Coveney to Kilmore Quay to meeting fishermen. Mr Coveney was conciliatory towards the Ramsgrange woman, saying: ‘Any candidate running in an election for the first time that has experienced the 48 hours that Verona Murphy has experienced will have experienced a big knock in their confidence, but she is a very resilient individual and she is back working on her campaign today. It is not acceptable to speak about refugees or migrants in the way that we’ve heard in the last 48 hours. Verona regrets that deeply I think, has apologised, but I think there is much more to Verona Murphy than what people have read in the last 48 hours and I think the people of Wexford understand that.’

Asked if he still had confidence in the candidate, the Tánaiste said: ‘I do have confidence in her’, adding that he knows her quite well because of his work on Brexit, in which she has been an advocate for hauliers and Irish business. ‘That’s why I think everybody was frustrated and disappointed by the comments that she made, which were ill-informed in the context of refugees and asylum seekers. She knows that now and she has sincerely apologised for those comments and I think it’s important to say, as a leader in my political party, it is not acceptable for a Fine Gael voice, a Fine Gael candidate, whether you’re a minister, whether you’re a TD or a senator, whether you’re a councillor or whether you’re running for election, to speak in a way that is irresponsible about vulnerable people like asylum seekers and refugees. ‘I think