Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern should apologise for ignorant comments he made about immigrants, says a Galway West by-election candidate.
Labour Party candidate Helen Ogbu is facing so much online racism, her party HQ has deployed specialist software to screen social media posts, while gardaí in Galway are investigating racially motivated defacement of her election materials.
Ahern was secretly recorded by a homeowner in the capital last week, when canvassing her house for Fianna Fáil for the Dublin Central by-election, also to be held on Friday, May 22.
The doorstep recording emerged online over the weekend, in which the political heavyweight is drawn into a woman’s conversation peppered with far-right talking points about “giving the country away to people with space programmes”.
“I am calling on Mr Ahern to reflect on his comments and acknowledge the hurt he has caused and apologise,” says Councillor Ogbu, who represents the city’s east ward.
The Nigerian-born city councillor would be the first person of black, African descent to sit in Dáil Éireann, if elected next week, and has become a lightening rod for racists across the English-speaking internet.
But offline, last Saturday night, a large, 4ft x 8ft Ogbu election poster on the outskirts of Oranmore was spray-painted with the N-word and photos of the defaced image went viral online. An Garda Scíochána confirmed to the Advertiser it is investigating a report of criminal damage in Oran Beg. “Enquiries are ongoing.”
In the video recording, Ahern said he believed there were too many immigrants entering Ireland.
“The ones I worry about are the Africans”, he said, adding: “We can’t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there’s too many from those places.”
Ahern, a Dublin TD for 34 years, has since rowed back on the comments he made in the conversation with the woman, telling journalists he has “no problem” with people from Africa, the Congo or anywhere else, but Ogbu says the harm is already done.
“To hear immigrants being singled out and scapegoated by a former taoiseach, and current member of the Council of State, is shocking; the level of ignorance behind those remarks beggars belief,” she said.
“I was dismayed to listen to Bertie Ahern’s ignorant and divisive comments. Immigrants make an incredible contribution to Irish society.
“Our hospitals and our care sector for example simply won’t function without the contribution of workers from abroad,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has confirmed it has deployed AI software to screen out “concerted waves” of bot attacks – fake social media profiles – publishing racist comments on any articles referencing Councillor Ogbu.
Two members of staff are also working manually to delete certain posts, with IT experts detecting the vast majority come from British IP addresses, with Facebook and Instagram being more problematic than TikTok.
“The online stuff is beyond disgrace,” a spokeswoman told the Advertiser. “No one putting themselves forward for public office should have to face this appalling level of abuse. It’s disgusting,” she said, adding that genuine, online debate – whether for or against their candidate – is lost in the tsunami of prejudice.
People Before Profit declared Ahern’s comments to be “vile”, while Ogbu’s fellow by-election candidate, Ruth O’Dea, in Dublin Central, declared them “beyond the Pale”.
