Scully to stay in FG despite losing party whip over tirade
By Shaun Connolly, Political Correspondent
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A councillor who refused to represent black people after launching a tirade against them has been told he can remain a member of Fine Gael.
Almost three months after Darren Scully provoked international uproar when he was accused of making racist remarks, Fine Gael moved to discipline him over the incident by withdrawing the party whip from him — though he can remain an individual member.
Chief executive of the Integration Centre, Killian Forde said that Fine Gael’s decision not to expel Mr Scully showed weakness.
"His expulsion from Fine Gael was the only logical decision for the party to make. The decision to only remove the whip demonstrates weakness and indecision from Fine Gael. They obviously accept that what he said was wrong, they obviously want to disassociate from his comments, they rightly removed the whip but bizarrely he retains his membership of Fine Gael," he said.
Mr Scully, who was forced to step down as mayor of Naas, Co Kildare, in November when his comments sparked outrage, will no longer be able to sit as a Fine Gael councillor.
Mr Scully refused to represent people he termed "black Africans" in the town as he claimed that they were bad mannered and aggressive, and prone to playing "the race card".
Mr Scully became the focus of global attention after he told a local radio station: "I’ve been met with aggressiveness, I’ve been met with bad manners and I’ve also been played the race card. It’s been said ‘You would help white people but you don’t help black people’.
"After a while of this I made a decision that I was not going to take on representations from Africans.
"I’ve said that I would be very courteous to them and that I would pass on their query to other public representatives who would take their concerns."
Labour TD for Dublin, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, reported Mr Scully’s remarks to gardaí under the Incitement to Hatred Act.
Mr Scully apologised for his remarks after the uproar against them broke, but claimed they had been "misinterpreted".
Fine Gael said the removal of the whip was the end of the matter as far as the party was concerned and they would not seek to throw him out of the organisation.
"Removal of the whip means that Mr Scully will not be able to represent Fine Gael on Kildare County Council, Naas Town Council or any of the committees of these bodies.
"He remains a member of Fine Gael on an individual basis," a statement said.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, February 22, 2012
