Aontú distances itself from anti-vaccine and anti-abortion MEP candidate after leaflet urges transfers to the party

A leaflet urging transfers to Aontú has been distributed widely across the capital under the name of Eamonn Murphy, who is running as an independent candidate in the Dublin constituency for the upcoming European elections.

But the leader of Aontú, Peadar Tóibín, has said the party has “little in common” with the candidate and said he had never heard of Mr Murphy before.

The leaflet has divine imagery on it as well as extracts from the Bible and a photograph of Mother Teresa.

It lays out Mr Murphy’s politics, where he makes claims about abortions and climate change.

It makes statements about “the climate hoax and all carbon penalties before the famines”, accuses “Big Pharma” of causing “miscarriages, cancers and even deaths by untested ‘vaccines’”.

It does not offer any evidence to back up the claims on the leaflet and urges households to scan an accompanying QR code for “full details”, which link to his website.

The leaflet urges Dublin households to vote No 1 for him and “transfers to Aine Considine, Aontú’s candidate (the only Dáil party that represented the nation who voted to protect the family based on marriage against the main parties’ attacks)”.

It is assumed the leaflet here is referring to Aontú campaigning for a No No vote in referendums on care and the family, where it was the only political party to do so.

It adds: “And no transfers to SF/FF/FG/Greens/Labour”.

Aontú have distanced themselves from the candidate, saying no voting pact is in place and that their candidate in Dublin is named Aisling Considine and not Aine, as per the leaflet.

“I have never heard of Eamonn Murphy before today and I have never spoken to him,” said Aontú leader TD Peadar Tóbín, who is running for a European seat in Midlands North West.

“Obviously there has been no contact or discussion about an election pact at all between Eamonn or anyone in Aontú. Eamonn seems to not even know the name of our Dublin candidate.”

He also criticised Mr Murphy’s claims about the party’s “motivation” for successfully calling in a No No vote in the recent family and care referendums.

“Like most people we opposed the referendums because they deleted the word mother from the constitution, introduced a definition-free term ‘durable relationship’, and reduced the rights of carers,” said Mr Tóibín.

The Meath TD said the party would “never” consider a voting pact without having “due diligence” on policies and character.

“I'm not sure what Eamonn's politics are but from looking at this leaflet today we have little in common. We would never consider a transfer pact without due diligence on policy and character. That has not happened. I think this is a non-story.”

Mr Murphy has been contacted for comment.