Taoiseach Enda Kenny has claimed he was referring to Fianna Fáil members when he criticised “whingers” in his hometown of Castlebar.

After initially declining to apologise for his remarks, made in his Mayo constituency over the weekend, Mr Kenny claimed on Monday morning he was referring to local political opponents.

Mr Kenny claimed he was referencing “full time professional politicians in Fianna Fáil, who’ve constantly talked down their own town”.

In an interview on Waterford Local Radio, he also said he regretted any offence caused by the comments.

The Taoiseach had been heavily criticised for the comments at the rally for supporters in Co Mayo on Saturday.

He had told the crowd: "God knows we have some All-Ireland champions here in Castlebar. I don't mean Castlebar Mitchells [GAA club], I mean the whingers that I hear every week saying there's nothing happening.

“Well, I want to assure them that the future is very bright. All we have to do is maintain the progress in terms of our economy. We’ll look after our hospitals, we’ll look after our schools, we’ll look after our infrastructure. We’ll look after the people who create jobs and business and give them that opportunity to grow in the time ahead.”

Asked what he meant by “whingers”, Mr Kenny said: “Locals – nothing to with national politics at all. Obviously, you get this all the time but sometimes I find that people find it very difficult to see any good anywhere, anytime.”

Asked on Sunday if he regretted the comments, Mr Kenny said: “No, I don’t. Some of them wouldn’t know sunshine if they saw it.”

Asked on Monday if she agreed with Mr Kenny’s reference to “whingers” in his Mayo constituency, Ms Burton said: “No I don’t agree with that”.

Pinch

Ms Burton said she met people every day who were still feeling a “pinch” and had not experienced the fruits of economic recovery.

She said it was good for Mr Kenny to hear that people had issues, difficulties and analyses that was different from his. The word “whingers” was “not a term I would use,” she added.

Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Niall Collins rejected Mr Kenny’s defence of his coments. “It was quite clear to me and anybody listening that Enda Kenny was directing those remarks at the public.”

Mr Collins said attacking the people of Castlebar is deeply offensive and needs to apologise.

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton said voters have every right to critique, analyse and express their opinion on the Government and all political parties. She said the Taoiseach’s commnets were ill-advised and unfortunate.

No recovery

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams criticised the Taoiseach's comments on Monday morning.

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Adams said the reality was that people throughout the country were not seeing the benefits of the recovery.

“The Taoiseach referred yesterday to whingers and people who would not see the sunshine on a sunny day. People do not feel the recovery because there is no recovery for them. The reason they are no seeing the recovery is because this Government made the wrong decisions,” he said.

Sinn Féin dropped 4 per cent to 15 per cent in the final Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll of the campaign published on Monday morning.