Nearly all minority Fine Gael candidates targeted by racist abuse and threats

Centrist party says political discourse has hit serious low' as intimidation of politicians rockets before elections

Nearly all of the minority candidates running for Ireland's centrist Fine Gael party have been targeted by threats and racists abuse, the party has said, in what it described as a very serious low" in the political discourse before local and European elections.

This is appalling and must be called out for what it is - wrong, sexist and racist," Damien English, the party's director of elections, said in a recent statement. Sixteen of the party's 339 candidates for upcoming elections have a migration background.