A Fine Gael General Election candidate in Wexford has been criticised after claiming there was no homelessness crisis in the county.

Appearing on the Tonight Show, the candidate said housing was not the major issue in Co Wexford, which was met with anger by opposing parties.

Fianna Fáil European Candidate for Ireland South, Malcolm Byrne hit out at at the comments, calling them "tone-deaf" and criticising Fine Gael for being "out of touch".

Mr Bryne said: "Just this week we had one of Minister Donohoe's Advisors claim a UN report, criticising property policies in Ireland, contained many red herrings. Last night we had a Fine Gael General Election candidate say there was no housing issue in Wexford.

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"The facts are the facts. There are 10,264 people without a home in Ireland, 3,784 are children. There are over 3,000 on the housing list in Wexford alone and I have visited many houses in the county where there are two and three families living in cramped unsuitable conditions, sharing bedrooms and kitchen facilities with no private space for the kids to study.

"Fine Gael just don't get it. Their spin machines believe that a 101% increase on child homelessness and 87% increase in family homelessness is acceptable. It's disgraceful to hear these kinds of remarks from their candidate and it's time they took their heads out of the sand and had a look around them," he concluded.

(CM/JG)