Fine Gael Councillor Darren Scully has resigned as Mayor of Naas after he said he would refuse to represent constituents of African origin.

Mr Scully said: "I wish to apologise unreservedly for my remarks on 4FM and KFM. I realise they have caused deep hurt and offence in all communities and in all sectors of society.

"I realise now that my remarks were open to an interpretation that I did not intend. I abhor racism in all its forms."



A complaint was made to gardaí over Mr Scully's comments.

Speaking to Clem Ryan on KFM's 'Kildare Today', Cllr Scully said he made his decision based on what he described as the "aggressive attitude" he has experienced when representations were made to him by "black Africans".

He said he would in future pass any representations from Africans on to other public representatives.

However, he stressed that this was his own view and not that of Naas Town Council.

A special meeting of Naas Town Council was called this evening to discuss the matter.

In a statement read after the meeting on behalf of the members, Councillor and Deputy Mayor Willy Callaghan said Mr Scully's comments in no way reflected the views of the council or the community.

He said the town is very inclusive to all nationalities and is providing a very welcoming environment to the many different backgrounds.



Earlier, Mr Scully said that over his seven years as a councillor his experiences of dealing with "black Africans" were not good.

He said most of the issues had to do with housing and he had been met "with aggressiveness and bad manners".

Mr Scully said he has always made it clear that he would speak his mind and that following his comments last night he received "extremely nasty and abusive emails and text messages".

However, he insisted he made his decision based on the experiences that he has had "with every single case over seven years".

This afternoon, Labour's Aodhán Ó Riordáin made a complaint under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act in relation to the comments.

A statement from Fine Gael said the views expressed by Cllr Scully do not reflect the views of Fine Gael and they were not party policy.