Social Democrats appoint Eoin Hayes to spokesman role following controversy
By Cillian Sherlock, PA
Eoin Hayes has been announced as the Social Democrats’ spokesman on social protection.
Last month, Mr Hayes was at the centre of controversy after it emerged he wore blackface make-up as part of a Barack Obama costume at a Halloween party 16 years ago.
The Dublin Bay South TD described the incident, while he was the 22-year-old president of the University College Cork Students’ Union, as a “huge mistake”.
Mr Hayes, who said he worked on former US president Mr Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, apologised and said he took full responsibility for his “completely inappropriate” actions and condemned racism “in all its forms”.
Pictures of the incident emerged shortly after he was readmitted to the parliamentary party following a previous controversy.
The Social Democrats won 11 seats in November’s poll but he was indefinitely suspended from the parliamentary party in December, just a month after being elected.
It came after he gave incorrect statements about shares he held in a company linked to the Israeli military.
He had initially told the media and his party colleagues that he divested shares in his former employer, Palantir Technologies, before being elected to Dublin City Council last June.
But he later disclosed that he sold the shares last July, after taking office, for a pre-tax figure of 199,000 euros.
The Social Democrats had been calling for economic sanctions against Israel months before Mr Hayes’s election to the council.
His suspension was lifted by the party in July.
After the blackface incident, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns insisted her party colleague deserved a chance to regain people’s trust.
She announced an update in spokespeople roles in the parliamentary party on Wednesday.
Ms Cairns said: “I know Deputy Hayes will work hard in this brief, on behalf of some of the most vulnerable people in the country, and continue to ensure the Government faces strong and constructive opposition.”
