FIANNA FÁIL LEADER Micheál Martin has distanced himself from comments made by two of his party’s general election candidates in relation to asylum seekers and immigration.

In a now deleted video posted on TikTok, Fianna Fáil councillor and general election candidate for Longford-Westmeath Dympna Cunniffe supported a local protest against the opening of a new temporary accommodation facility for up to 1,000 asylum seekers in Athlone.

Overlayed at the beginning of the video is large text reading: “1000 single males?”

In it, she interviewed a local father and business man and highlighted a protest organised locally against the temporary accommodation facility in Lissywollen, in which parents plan to pull their children out of school for the day. 

In recent weeks the site has been picketed by protesters including by anti-immigrant protesters and members of the far-right.

Cunniffe said in the video that if elected, she will push to make community consultation mandatory. 

“Athlone has supported refugees for 24 years, we’ve done our part. Doubling the site near schools is reckless, especially with strained resources. Our community should have veto power or at least a mechanism to control the influx,” Cunniffe said. 

In a comment on social media, Cunniffe wrote: “Would you want children walking to school adjacent to the coming and going’s of 1000 asylum seekers awaiting background checks from countries dubbed ‘high risk’ as per government documents?”

Meanwhile, yesterday in an interview with the Sligo Champion, Fianna Fáil councillor and general election candidate for Sligo-Leitrin Edel McSharry told the paper that the government’s handling on immigration over the last number of years has been “reckless and irresponsible”.

She said it is “reprehensible” that policies implemented by the government have “very directly incentivised large and small scale landlords to prioritise refugees over indigenous families, workers and students in need of accommodation.”

When these comments were put to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin today, he said he doesn’t agree with or approve of them.

“I think the government has behaved responsibly. This government has done everything we possibly can, and the government is moving towards a state accommodation approach.” 

Martin said despite this “you’re still going to end up with difficulties” and people will still be concerned about “numbers and so forth”.

“So this will remain a challenging issue for any government, and it will remain a challenging issue for all political parties,” Martin said. 

When he was then asked if he agrees with Cunniffe’s comments he said he did not, but when asked if he would condemn them he responded: 

“I’ve given my comments, I’ve made my point. I don’t approve of those comments.”