She said previously that she has travelled to Northern Ireland “on many, many occasions” and does not only go “on day trips”
Heather Humphreys has said a campaign video about her visit to Belfast that features Germany’s parliament building was “an error”.
The Fine Gael candidate, who is from a Protestant background and grew up in the border county of Monaghan, has previously said she has a “unique understanding” of Northern Ireland.
She said previously that she has travelled to Northern Ireland “on many, many occasions” and does not only go “on day trips”, in reference to other presidential candidates.
Fine Gael party leader Simon Harris said last April, shortly after becoming Taoiseach, that he was of a generation that were “more familiar now with London and Berlin and Paris than they might be with Belfast or Derry”.
Ms Humphreys visited Belfast on Monday, where she met students in the west of the city and spoke to unionists about their concerns.
Asked about the campaign video about the visit that featured an image of the Bundestag, Ms Humphreys said: “That was a mistake.
“Thank you, whoever brought it to our attention, and it has been taken down. It has been rectified. It was an error.”
A new video has been posted to Instagram in which the Bundestag image has been replaced with one of Belfast City Hall.
“I had a great day in Belfast, and I was in many different places, but I was delighted to have been actually to the old school of the former president, Mary McAleese,” she said, speaking at Dublin Fire Brigade headquarters.
“I was there in St Dominic’s. I met the pupils. I met the young girls there, and they’re so proud of what Mary McAleese achieved when she was president.”
She also took aim at her election rival Catherine Connolly over a video that features Michael D Higgins, reportedly without his permission.
She said: “Just on the subject of videos, I know there’s another video going around at the minute, and it’s got President Michael D Higgins in it.
“I think Catherine has put that video out, and it looks like they’re kind of very good friends, and maybe that is the case, I don’t know, but I just wondered, has Catherine got permission from the President – I understand she hasn’t – to show that video, so maybe she needs to look at that as well.”
Ms Connolly said on Wednesday morning that she was not aware of the video but would “check that out”.
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