Fine Gael is expected to officially remove Verona Murphy from its Wexford general election ticket at a meeting of its executive council on Wednesday night. It is understood meetins were held in Enniscorthy with Ms Murphy and her team. The executive council met last week and another meeting has been arranged for Wednesday evening. Ms Murphy made, and then withdrew and apologised for, comments about asylum seekers being linked to Islamic State and suggested they may need “de-programming”. Asked why he had canvassed with Ms Murphy following these comments, Mr Varadkar told RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor she had apologised and withdrawn them.

Source: The Irish Times December 17, 2019 21:13 UTC