The anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) has condemned as scaremongering the Taoiseach's suggestion that a British exit from the European Union could adversely affect the peace settlement in Northern Ireland.

"This is scaremongering at its most disgraceful, frankly," Ukip's deputy leader Paul Nuttall said. "The European Union had nothing to do with the current relative peace in Northern Ireland. That was entirely down to the efforts of successive governments."

In a speech on Monday to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Mr Kenny highlighted the role the EU had played in enabling peace in Northern Ireland and described Britain and Ireland's common membership of the EU as "part of the glue" holding the peace process together.

Mr Nuttall said the EU had nothing to do with bringing peace to the North and suggested the Taoiseach’s intervention showed how low the pro-EU side was willing to stoop.

“To suggest that the EU has in some way played a part in the recent relatively peaceful history of Northern Ireland would be to rewrite history. It is indicative, however, of how low the ‘stay in’ campaign will go, but I suspect referendum voters will see very differently,” he said.