By Fiachra O Cionnaith
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been forced to apologise for accusing people in his home town of being "All Ireland whingers" after a public backlash over the claim.
The Fine Gael leader said this morning he regrets making the comment, less than 24 hours after he told reporters in west Clare to cheers from party colleagues that he did not regret the claim.
Speaking at an election rally in his home town of Castlebar, Co Mayo, on Saturday evening, Mr Kenny said despite local investment some people continue to criticise him over the failure to stretch the recovery to the west of Ireland county.
Hitting out at the criticism, he claimed Mayo has a number of "All Ireland whingers".
"God knows we have some All-Ireland champions here in Castlebar.
"I don't mean Castlebar Mitchell's [the local GAA club] I mean the whingers that I hear every week saying there's nothing happening," he said, just five days out from the general election.
Asked about the comments at a separate event in west Clare yesterday, the Taoiseach was cheered by party members when he said he does not regret making the comments, saying that "some of them [critics] wouldn't know sunshine if they saw it".
He added that the "whingers" comment referred specifically to "locals" and was "nothing to do with national politics at all".
However, amid a growing opposition backlash and one minister privately saying the comments were "foolish", Mr Kenny this morning told the Waterford-based radio station WLRFM he regrets the remark.
The Fine Gael leader insisted he was speaking about local politicians and not voters themselves, and specifically said he was referring to "full-time politicians" in Fianna Fáil when asked.
Despite the fact Mr Kenny failed to clarify this yesterday, Fine Gael last night attempted to downplay the story by insisting he was speaking about politicians and not the public.
He was also defended in this way by Health Minister Leo Varadkar, while Sports Minister and constituency colleague Michael Ring said "maybe the guy was just tired".
However, one minister admitted the remark was "foolish" given the ongoing lack of a recovery in large parts of rural Ireland.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin leaders Micheál Martin and Gerry Adams described Mr Kenny's comments as sheer arrogance, while Independents in the area said the remarks were similar to Bertie Ahern's 2007 claim people "moaning and cribbing" about an economic crash on the cards should consider suicide.
