The Fine Gael leader, Mr Kenny, has apologised to various organisations working with refugees for any offence caused by a joke he told at a private party function last week.

Mr Kenny personally telephoned the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Residents Against Racism group and the Irish Refugee Council on Monday to apologise.

Mr Kenny also yesterday signed a petition organised by the Union of Students in Ireland in support of two Nigerian sisters threatened with deportation. The Onasanwo sisters, aged 18 and 16, face female genital mutilation if they are forced to return home. The USI has launched a campaign that the girls be allowed to remain in Ireland on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

A party spokeswoman said Mr Kenny had planned to support the Onasanwo family cause in advance of the controversy that erupted over the joke he told in which he used the world "nigger".