Labour stands by council candidate filmed making anti-immigrant remarks, following investigation

Labour candidate Carol Reynolds in the video on social media last December. X

Carol Reynolds

Carol Reynolds apologised last year for remarks including that Ireland had “too many immigrants”.

A LABOUR PARTY local election candidate filmed making anti-immigrant remarks last December has retained her position, following an internal party investigation.

Carol Reynolds did an interview with anti-immigration campaigner Gavin Pepper outside a building earmarked for homeless accommodation for families in Ringsend in Dublin last December, in which she said Ireland had “too many immigrants”, who considered Ireland to be “Treasure Island”. She subsequently apologised.

pic.twitter.com/8LMEq9p0kN

— Carol Reynolds (@ringsendreynol) December 17, 2023

Yesterday, Labour leader Ivana Bacik confirmed Reynolds would be retained on her party’s election ticket for Dublin City Council, following an internal party investigation.

Bacik said there was “an edited video circulated by the far right which misrepresented what Carol’s true beliefs [are] and Carol is a very good and very embedded community activist”.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1′s This Week programme, during the course of the Labour Party national conference, Bacik said the decision followed a “very comprehensive review” conducted by the party’s General Secretary.

The Journal has asked the party for a copy of the review.

‘The far right are mobilising’

She said that as a result of the review, the party will introduce “stronger supports” for candidates and representatives to ensure they are able to “withstand intimindation” by the far right”.

“We are conscious that the far right are mobilising across the country, putting microphones in people’s faces, intimidating people, coercing people who may not be seasoned or experienced at dealing with media,” Bacik said.

In her apology in December, Reynolds said she felt “cornered and under pressure” when approached to participate in the video in December.

Bacik added that Reynolds had retracted the commentsm which were “absolutely not comments that are in keeping with Labour values, or indeed with her own values”.

The vacant Shipwright pub and guesthouse in the centre of Ringsend village, outside which Reynolds and Pepper were filmed, was set on fire in an arson attack on New Year’s Eve, for which a local man was charged in court last week. He denies the charges.

In the video, Reynolds and Pepper incorrectly discussed the building as if it were intended for use for people seeking international protection, which it was not. Dublin Regional Homeless Executive was working to bring the building into use as emergency accommodation for families.

Pepper asked Reynolds whether she agreed with “open borders and mass migration”.

Reynolds said: “I think we have enough. We have too many immigrants here at the moment.”

“We’re fighting with the Government to look at alternatives for this. I mean, there’s no way they’re coming in […] there’s a lot of people moaning in the area – which I totally agree with – that the immigrants coming in are not actually immigrants.

“They’re just coming in because they’re calling us ‘treasure island’.”

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