A COMPLAINT HAS been made about Dublin city councillor Gavin Pepper over an alleged breach of ethical guidelines for members of local government.

During a special meeting about online misinformation on Tuesday, the Council’s chief executive Richard Shakespeare confirmed than an investigation was underway about a councillor following an ethics complaint.

The complaint was made by People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy.

It relates to a phone call Reddy said he received on 30 August from a private number. The councillor has accused Pepper of making the phone call. 

While Shakespeare did not mention Pepper by name, he said that a complaint had come before him and the Lord Mayor, Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan, which has since been examined by a third party.

Speaking in Dublin this morning, the Lord Mayor told The Journal that once a third party has made a decision on an ethics complaint, the ruling is then handed back to him and the chief executive who may consider imposing sanctions.

Reddy told The Journal that he made the complaint.

Pepper told RTÉ News yesterday, when asked for comment on the complaint: “It’s a shame you never contacted me when his colleague called me a terrorist in the Dáil privilege time. Sorry, I’m very busy with constituency work. Have a very nice evening.”

Pepper did not respond to a message asking for comment from The Journal earlier today.

Shortly after reports of the complaint were first published, Pepper wrote on X – where he frequently shares posts expressing anti-immigration opinions – that he didn’t care what “the mainstream media print” about him.

“I’m an elected councillor, chosen by the public, and I will continue to work hard for the people I represent,” he said, adding that he had attended a public meeting in Ballymun and expressed his concerns about open-air drug dealing in the area.

Pepper is one of a handful of far-right councillors who recently won a seat on local authorities after the election in June. He was elected in the Ballymun-Finglas ward.

He had risen to prominence through attending anti-immigration protests in Dublin and elsewhere in the country in recent years.

Pepper has previously called for mass deportations and makes references to ‘#IrelandIsFull’ when posting on social media that reference migration.

Additional reporting by Jane Matthews