The Justice Minister has moved to 'categorically dissociate' himself from the comments made by Verona Murphy about asylum seekers.
The Fine Gael by-election candidate for Wexford previously said some asylum seekers would need to be "de-programmed" before coming to Ireland.
She has since issued two apologies over the remarks.
Following an initial apology on Sunday night, Fine Gael said Ms Murphy also visited a centre in Waterford to "gain a better understanding of asylum and refugee issues".
The Immigrant Council of Ireland yesterday claimed the "apology and the whole situation is very, very outrageous".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday condemned Ms Murphy's comments, but stood by his party's candidate and said he will "certainly be campaigning with her before polling day".
Minister Charlie Flanagan today said Ms Murphy's comments were unacceptable and moved to distance himself from them.
He told the Dáil: "I want to categorically dissociate myself from comments made by Ms Verona Murphy, our own party candidate in Wexford.
"I believe it's incumbent on all of us to ensure that unacceptable commentary is treated as such."
Minister Flanagan was responding to questions from Fianna Fáil's justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan.
Deputy O'Callaghan suggested some people in the political domain need to be reminded that it is a criminal offence to make comments which are likely to stir up hatred against certain groups.
He added: "I think, minister, that should be brought to the attention of certain figures in your own party because of their utterances in recent time."
