At a rally of the party faithful in Castlebar on Saturday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny described local people who were constantly bemoaning the lack of economic activity in Mayo, his native, county as "whingers".
"These people are All-Ireland champions when it comes to whingeing", Mr Kenny said.
They refused to recognise that Castlebar was benefitting from economic recovery, he added.
In a questions and answers session with reporters after his speech, the Taoiseach was specifically asked who he was referring to his in comments about “whingers”.
“Locals”, he replied. “Nothing to do with national politics at all. Obviously you get this all the time. Sometimes I find that people find it difficult to see any good anywhere anytime.”
One reporter asked Mr Kenny about recent business setbacks in Castlebar, particularly the sudden shutdown last week of the town’s Welcome Inn, one of the pillars of the local economy for more than half a century.
Mr Kenny responded by saying that locally there were “individual problems that may be associated with banks or property”. In the case of the Welcome Inn, he explained the hotel had gone into voluntary liquidation.
“Obviously we hope from that [voluntary liquidation] that jobs won’t be lost,” he added.
In a separate interview at the weekend with Midwest Radio, Mr Kenny promised a "major announcement" today as regards Ireland West Airport Knock but he would not elaborate on the details of the announcement.
