Verona Murphy
TD
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2020
ConstituencyWexford
Personal details
Born1971 (age 52–53)
Ramsgrange, County Wexford
NationalityIrish
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Fine Gael (until 2020)
Alma materInstitute of Technology, Carlow

Verona Murphy (born 1971) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency since the 2020 general election.[1] Murphy is President of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA).

Early life

One of 11 children, Murphy was born and raised in Ramsgrange by parents who were farmers and livestock dealers.[2] She dropped out of school at 15 to pursue work,[3] before moving to England, where she took up a job at a McDonald's franchise.[2] She later returned to education, doing her Leaving Cert in her 30s and graduating with a BA in law from Institute of Technology, Carlow.[4]

Political career

2019 Wexford by-election

She was selected as the Fine Gael candidate for the November 2019 Wexford by-election, which was called after the election of Mick Wallace to the European Parliament.[5] During the by-election campaign, Murphy made remarks supporting Noel Grealish's attempts to block a direct provision centre being created in Oughterard, County Galway, and suggested that immigrants coming to Ireland were being "infiltrated by ISIS" and would need to be "deprogrammed".[6] She claimed that immigrants as young as "three or four years old" were a danger because of ISIS brainwashing and that ISIS is a “big part” of the migrant population in Ireland.[7][8]

These remarks were criticised by the Irish Refugee Council and by members of opposition parties in the Dáil.[6] Murphy subsequently apologised for her remarks and issued a statement, stating "This was a very poor choice of words and I am very sorry to anyone who was offended by them. People coming here fleeing persecution deserve to be treated with compassion and respect. They need to be given opportunities to forge a new start for themselves and their families. That is why we have direct provision: to provide board and lodging to people seeking asylum".[6]

However, following the apology, Murphy released a campaign video on YouTube in which she claimed that she had been "the victim of “character assassination in the media." This prompted the leader of Fine Gael and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to comment directly on Murphy, stating the video was "bizarre" and "not party-approved".[9] Several other top-ranking members of Fine Gael were also disturbed by her campaign, including Tánaiste Simon Coveney, who stated that Murphy's comments were wrong, and her choice of language about migrants was not acceptable.[10] Murphy refused to participate in any of the by-election debates or panel discussions during the campaign.[11] Fine Gael stated it was aware of allegations against Murphy of workplace bullying before the campaign began.[12]

On election day, Murphy received 9,543 (23.8%) first preference votes and was eliminated on the fourth count.[13] Despite the defeat, Murphy insisted on election day that she would be Fine Gael's candidate in the 2020 general election.[13]

Removal from Fine Gael ticket

In December 2019, Fine Gael de-selected Murphy as a candidate for 2020 general election, as a result of her behaviour during the November by-election.[14] When asked again about Murphy after the by-election, Leo Varadkar stated "quite frankly I'm glad she didn't get elected" and remarked; "What was done subsequently in terms of the video she did which sort of tried to imply the whole thing was a media character assassination attempt on her – I had a big problem with that because maybe it suggested to me that the apology and retraction wasn’t fully sincere." Furthermore, Varadkar declared that it had been a "mistake" by Fine Gael to select Murphy as a candidate, a mistake for which he took responsibility.[15]

Following her de-selection, Murphy left Fine Gael.

2020 general election

In the 2020 general election, Murphy was elected as an Independent TD in the Wexford constituency.[16][17][18]

In November 2021 Murphy was accused of spreading anti-vax information in the Dáil by health minister Stephen Donnelly after Murphy stated studies had shown "that a vaccinated person is every bit as likely to transmit this virus as a non-vaccinated person". Despite her assertions, Murphy insisted she was not "Anti-Vax" and had been vaccinated herself, but believed the choice to take vaccinations was up to the individual.[19][20]

Personal life

Murphy ran a haulage firm, Drumur Transport, with her business partner Joseph Druhan. The business closed in 2021.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Verona Murphy". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Lee, Cathy (4 February 2020). "'Experience with FG has taught me a lot' says Independent Verona". Wexford People. pp. 28–29.
  3. ^ Wexford, Jennifer O'Connell in. "'Local and vocal': What does Wexford think of Verona Murphy?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Verona Murphy - Women in Business". South East Radio. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  5. ^ Duffy, Rónán. "Verona Murphy says she's 'not a racist' as she confirms run as independent general election candidate in Wexford". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b c McCarthy, Justin (18 November 2019). "Fine Gael by-election candidate apologises over asylum seeker comments". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  7. ^ McEnroe, Juno (18 December 2019). "Verona Murphy confirms she has been deselected as Fine Gael election candidate". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020. She also claimed that three-year-olds had been manipulated by the terrorist group.
  8. ^ Bray, Jennifer; Looby, David (19 November 2020). "Verona Murphy criticised for saying 3 year-olds 'manipulated' by Isis". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. ^ Duffy, Rónán (30 November 2019). "'Not an official Fine Gael video': Ministers grilled on Verona Murphy's last-ditch Rocky themed clip". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  10. ^ McConnell, Daniel (2 December 2019). "Little support for Verona Murphy after 'disastrous' campaign". Irish Examiner. Cork. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  11. ^ Loughlin, Elaine (26 November 2019). "Murphy under fire for pulling out of live debates". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  12. ^ Lehane, Míchéal (21 November 2019). "Fine Gael says it was aware of Verona Murphy bullying claims". RTE. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  13. ^ a b Loughlin, Elaine (30 November 2019). "Byelections 2019: Fianna Fáil's Malcolm Byrne elected to Dáil in Wexford". Irish Examiner. Cork. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  14. ^ Cunningham, Paul (18 December 2019). "Fine Gael deselects Verona Murphy as general election candidate". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  15. ^ Regan, Mary (20 December 2019). "Taoiseach 'glad' Verona Murphy was not elected". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Wexford: 2020 General Election". irelandelection.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  17. ^ Gallagher, Conor (10 February 2020) [9 February 2020]. "Wexford results: Verona Murphy elected on 11th count". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Election 2020: Wexford". The Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  19. ^ Meskill, Tommy (2 November 2021). "Murphy accused of spreading anti-vax information".
  20. ^ McNeice, Stephen (3 November 2021). "Verona Murphy: 'Let me be very clear: I am not anti-vax'". Newstalk. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  21. ^ Coyle, Colin. "Verona Murphy can't keep on trucking with haulage business". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
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