{"id":482908,"date":"2026-05-13T17:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482908\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:13:10","slug":"ive-no-problem-with-people-from-the-congo-or-africa-bertie-ahern-addresses-video-comments-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482908\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ve no problem with people from the Congo or Africa\u2019: Bertie Ahern addresses video comments \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern<\/a> has insisted he has \u201cno problem\u201d with people from \u201cthe Congo\u201d or Africa after footage surfaced of him speaking to a woman about immigration<\/a> during a byelection canvass last week. <\/p>\n

During the video, which was made without Ahern\u2019s knowledge, the woman raised concerns about immigration and sharia law, with the former taoiseach saying he believed there were too many migrants coming into the country. <\/p>\n

He said the \u201cones I worry about are the Africans\u201d, adding \u201cwe can\u2019t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there\u2019s too many from those places.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said he was concerned about second-generation Muslims born to people who came into the country, and that he had communicated this to Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish Times on Wednesday, he said \u201cI\u2019ve no problem with people from the Congo or Africa or anywhere else. I\u2019ve good friends around Drumcondra, there\u2019s a lot of the clergy in from Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin sought to distance Fianna F\u00e1il from Ahern\u2019s comments on Wednesday, saying it was not appropriate to be specific about any ethnicity. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many different ethnicities in Ireland, many Irish citizens with different ethnic backgrounds, and that has to be respected,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n

Ahern said he had heard the Taoiseach\u2019s comments. \u201cJust to be absolutely clear, the Taoiseach seemed to think I have some problem with Jim O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s policy, I don\u2019t,\u201d Ahern said. <\/p>\n

The former taoiseach said his issue was with the speed at which people were processed through the immigration system, which should happen as quickly as possible, and he said O\u2019Callaghan had sped it up.<\/p>\n

He said he had been \u201cin the heat of a fire with [the woman who made the video] and I was actually defending Ukrainians at the time. I probably shouldn\u2019t mention anyone but that\u2019s … I don\u2019t have any problem with any of these people, my only problem is the system, that it should be dealt with very quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ahern added: \u201cBecause they do arrive here, they just arrive here from nowhere without papers and that\u2019s the difficulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in Dublin Central all the time and down around Gardiner Street, inner city, and you just hear endlessly people giving out about it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The video was taken during a canvass in support of Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s candidate in the Dublin Central byelection, John Stephens. <\/p>\n

Ahern said he didn\u2019t think anyone should be ruled out in the byelection contest with nine days to go, but that it was \u201cprobably a battle between Sinn F\u00e9in and the SocDems [Social Democrats]\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think both of them, the SocDems have put in a strong campaign \u2013 [Social Democrat candidate Daniel] Ennis has been up to my place four times in the last three months, and the lads tell me he\u2019s coming up a fair bit in Cabra.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said that with Sinn F\u00e9in on more than 20 per cent support nationally, even if Ennis matched the 13 per cent first-preference vote achieved by sitting Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central Gary Gannon, it would be difficult. <\/p>\n

He said the main objective for Stephens would be to put in a good showing for the next general election. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing is that they strengthen their position and they ran a good campaign this time, they ran a campaign mainly with \u00d3gra members \u2013 I\u2019ve been out with them several times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is getting him up in lights for the next general [election].\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue was raised in the D\u00e1il when People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy accused Ahern of \u201cdisgusting racism\u201d.<\/p>\n

He claimed the comments showed a \u201cvery blatant agenda\u201d to \u201cscapegoat immigrants, divide ordinary people\u201d so that \u201cnobody blames Ahern, Fianna F\u00e1il and the landlords and developers you have allowed to profit from the housing crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reiterating his earlier comments, the Taoiseach said: \u201cI don\u2019t approve of any commentary that would in any way undermine any particular ethnicity or any person with a particular ethnic background.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd my understanding is that Mr Ahern, former taoiseach, has resiled from those comments and he says he has no issue with people who come through our asylum process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said: \u201cWhat people say when they don\u2019t think they\u2019re being recorded is actually more valuable than what they say when they do know they\u2019re being recorded. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it suggests a dirty game used on doors\u201d to divide ordinary people, \u201cto have them not blaming the people you represent\u201d but to \u201cblame the people from Congo or wherever else\u201d, Murphy said. <\/p>\n

But the Taoiseach rejected Murphy\u2019s comments as \u201cunacceptable\u201d and insisted it was not Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s policy or approach.<\/p>\n

He told Murphy: \u201cYou\u2019re no angel yourself when it comes to politics\u201d and \u201cyou\u2019re not shy yourself in terms of mischaracterising people, mis-spinning and deliberately exaggerating positions of different politicians on an ongoing basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin also criticised Murphy\u2019s call for council rent increases to be reversed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want more and more and more services\u201d but \u201cwhen it comes to the annual budget, you guys never voted for them\u201d, Martin said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut other politicians have to step up with a bit of guts and a bit of courage and vote and make sure the city runs. And that\u2019s the difference between your politics and the politics of the majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canvassing in Cabra on Wednesday, Sinn F\u00e9in candidate Janice Boylan said she had not seen or heard Ahern\u2019s comments. She said the immigration system needed to be revitalised and needed to be \u201cworking properly, effective, equality-based and enforced\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf [Ahern is] making off-the-cuff comments like that it\u2019s bad form, it\u2019s absolutely bad form, particularly for someone in a position that he was in before,” she said. <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald, who was on the canvas with Boylan, said she had heard the comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Fianna F\u00e1il is this? To have a position publicly and then to be saying different things privately. I think that\u2019s really unhelpful,\u201d she said. McDonald said there needed to be \u201cthoughtful management of issues around every aspect of migration\u201d and criticised the Government for its approach. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Fianna F\u00e1il want to be speaking out of all sides of their mouth, that\u2019s kind of for them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Asked if she would condemn the comments, as others had, she said: \u201cThat\u2019s wrong, it\u2019s wrong to identify or to zero in on any one group of people in that way..\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has insisted he has \u201cno problem\u201d with people from \u201cthe Congo\u201d or Africa after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[15526,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,56,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-482908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-bertie-ahern","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116568392179000466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}