Kildare Aontú member fired over racist messages

THE political party Aontú has fired a Kildare man who was head of its youth wing after racist and antisemitic messages were shared between members in a private group chat.

It was confirmed that John Bryan (21), Ógra Aontú leader and local representative in the Clane LEA, was fired from the position following messages leaked from secret group chats used by members of Aontú’s youth wing, along with five other members from the group who were permanently removed from the party.

The messages between party members included use of the n-word, antisemitic slurs, and conspiracy theories blaming Jews for mass immigration. Aontú confirmed that “secret WhatsApp groups” of this nature are against party rules and contravene the party’s code of conduct.

Aontú wrote in response to the incident: ‘We are horrified, shocked and angered at this development. This repulsive content is an attack on our party polices, ethos and constitution.’ 

It continued: “We are a pluralist Republican party. We firmly believe that everyone should be able to be who they are without fear or favour. We have many valued members who are immigrants. We have members who are followers of all faiths and none. Indeed, some of those members stood for us in the recent elections. We came under attack from the extremes. This did not deter us as equality is a key foundation stone for Aontú.

‘Aontú has a zero tolerance for any disgusting behaviour that seeks to discriminate against people. We are angry that a small group of young people sought to besmirch our movement by such repugnant language.

“It is of deep concern that some young people are allowing their hearts to be hardened by radical content on social media,’ it concluded.

Mr Bryan has since been relieved of his role as administrative assistant for Peadar Tóibín TD and as election agent for Mayo TD Paul Lawless, as well as his role as leader of Ógra Aontú, and all party-associated social media pages in his name have been deactivated.