Paul Murphy, Dublin South-West byelection candidate and former Socialist Party MEP, has called the manufacturing of a fake Facebook post that appears to show him admitting to lying to the electorate, "an incredibly dirty trick". Several senior Sinn Féin members shared the image before realising it was not genuine, leading to apologies from several of the party's most senior elected representatives.

Sinn Fein's deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, was one of those senior Sinn Fein figures forced to apologise for sharing a Facebook conversation that purported to show Murphy admitting he was being dishonest with the public when discussing water charges, but later transpired to not be genuine. A screen-grab of the conversation was shared by several Sinn Fein politicians, including McDonald and MEP Lynn Boylan.

The image of the conversation - between Murphy and a profile of a man named Jason Roe - shows what is supposed to be Murphy saying:

“Why am I scared of Sinn Féin? It’s politics Jason. I know Sinn Féin may block water charges if they get elected but I’m not a member of Sinn Féin so politics kicks in and I say what I have to in order to gain support!

“To be honest I know I probably won’t get elected but I have to give it a good shot ... you understand that yes.”

Murphy has stated the message did not come from either his personal or professional account. 

McDonald has since accepted that the image was not genuine and apologised with a message on her Facebook page, saying:

“There was a screen shot of a conversation purporting to be from Paul Murphy (the Socialist Party candidate in the Dublin South West by-election) circulating on Facebook earlier this morning. I shared this picture and I accept that the contents of this image were untrue. I am happy to apologise to Paul Murphy for any offence or distress this may have caused.”Prior to McDonald’s apology, Murphy had called the act “an incredibly dirty trick”. Murphy responded to the image, and the sharing of it, saying:

“This is an incredibly dirty trick which Sinn Fein's leadership has given credibility to by circulating the falsehood. I did not write that message. It is either a photoshop or a fake account, designed to damage the AAA campaign in the Dublin South West by-election. The fact that leading members of Sinn Fein have circulated this picture and have continued to do so despite my clear statement that I did not write that message, is absolutely outrageous.

“This is a dirty trick designed with a specific purpose in mind. It is to divert attention from their opposition to a mass campaign of non-payment of water charges, which represents an abandonment of working class communities who are in revolt against water charges and cannot pay. More and more people are seeing through their position, which in effect means that people should pay and wait for a Sinn Fein government in the future. What we need instead is a massive campaign of working class people power, non-payment, protest and political pressure to defeat the water charges.”

Murphy has since accepted Mary Lou McDonald’s apology on the matter.