Naas Mayor 'Racist' - Labour

A Fine Gael Mayor, who said he would refuse to represent constituents of African origin while speaking on a radio interview, has been branded a "racist" by the Labour Party on Tuesday.

Mayor of Naas Darren Scully, speaking to Clem Ryan on KFM's 'Kildare Today', said he made his decision based on the ''aggressive attitude'' and "bad manners" he has experienced when being dealing with ''black Africans''.

A complaint has been made to gardaí over the comments while Labour TD for Waterford, Ciara Conway said she was absolutely appalled by the Mayor's comments.

"As a mother of a new generation of Irish people, I am absolutely disgusted and sickened by these appallingly ignorant and disgustingly racist comments," said TD Conway.

"How dare a public representative exercise such selectivity? How exactly is he defining people of African origin? I have a daughter of mixed parentage, and she's among a new generation of non-Caucasian Irish citizens. Would Mayor Scully handle her queries?

"I am sickened that in this day and age we have to tackle such small-minded ignorance from bigots like this. Of course, he has qualified his statement by playing the 'I'm not a racist but ...' card."

A special meeting of Naas Town Council has been called this evening to discuss the matter. Mayor Scully is expected to attend the meeting.

Mr Scully said that over his seven years as a councillor his experiences of dealing with "black Africans" were not good.

(DW)