A FINE GAEL COUNCILLOR who made racist remarks about his black African constituents has lost the party whip – but has not been expelled from the party.
Cllr Darren Scully can no longer represent Fine Gael on Kildare County Council and Naas Town Council following a ruling by the party’s disciplinary committee, which met to discuss his controversial remarks about local Africans in November 2011.
Speaking on radio, Cllr Scully had said: “I have been met with aggressiveness and bad manners. I have also been met with the race card, [with people saying] ‘Oh yeah, you will help white people, but you don’t help black people’.
“So after a while I made a decision that I was just not going to take on representations from black Africans, that I would be very courteous to them and I would pass on their query to other public representatives.”
Following the controversy, Cllr Scully resigned as Mayor of Naas and apologised for his comments.
Meanwhile, The Integration Centre has criticised Fine Gael’s move for not going far enough.
According to chief executive Killian Forde, Cllr Scully’s expulsion from Fine Gael was the “only logical decision for the party to make”.
Forde said the “light punishment” sends a message from the Government that “racism is acceptable in Irish politics”.
Speaking on 4FM in November following the controversy, Eric Yao of the Africa Centre had said he was a “strong believer in forgiveness, and people make mistakes” but added that he hoped the episode would pave the way for “some level of education”.
The decision to remove the party whip from Cllr Scully was not included as a news item on the Fine Gael website.
