A Leitrim woman, who is chair of the Green Party's National Executive, says she believes party leader Eamon Ryan made a serious error in the Dail when he used the n-word yesterday.
Mr Ryan was quoting from a story in a newspaper when he used the racial slur.
He later apologised on Twitter for repeating the word and said he apologised for any hurt caused to people.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan show this morning Blaithin Gallaher, who is a former General Election candidate in Sligo-Leitrim, was in agreement with other party members who had criticised Eamon Ryan's performance.
She said he should have known that using the actual word can cause huge offence and hurt: