LAST UPDATE | 25 Mar

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.

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. 

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.

This afternoon, the Labour Party declined to share the contents of the review.

“The review was always an internal document to ensure the Labour Party is fully adhering to its duty of care to all candidates,” the party said, adding that Bacik had addressed the matter “in full” yesterday.

‘The far right are mobilising’

Bacik 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 comments, 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.

Dublin Regional Homeless Executive had hoped to bring the building into use as emergency accommodation for families.

In the video last December, 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’.”