The Taoiseach says he believes that the Fine Gael party in Waterford could secure a second Dáil seat in the next election despite recent allegations of bullying hanging over the party.
An internal investigation found that there was no incidence of bullying or intimidatory behaviour.
The local election candidate who lodged the complaint is to leave the party.
Fiona Dowd said she has been an active member for 30 years but she cannot in good conscience support an organisation that condones the type of behaviour that has been on-going within the Waterford Fine Gael membership.
It's expected the Fine Gael election ticket will be finalised within the coming weeks after sitting TD John Deasy announced he would not be running again.
Leo Varadkar says he can't say whether the recent issue has damaged the party's reputation:
"I certainly don't think it's been good for the party nationally or locally, whether it's damaged it or not, I don't know. What I can say is that politics is a rough and tumble business and there's always interpersonal rivalries and a lot of interpersonal competition."
"But as far as Waterford is concerned, we have a selected candidate in Senator Coffey who is a very strong candidate; who has been a Government Minister before and also will be adding to our ticket, and we're very confident that we can hold a seat here in Waterford and even on a good day challenge for a second."
