{"id":484546,"date":"2026-05-14T16:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:07:11","slug":"bertie-aherns-comments-on-immigration-totally-wrong-says-jack-chambers-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484546\/","title":{"rendered":"Bertie Ahern\u2019s comments on immigration \u2018totally wrong\u2019, says Jack Chambers \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> deputy leader Jack Chambers<\/a> has said Bertie Ahern<\/a>\u2019s comments on immigration<\/a> are \u201ctotally wrong and inappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday, Chambers said Ireland is the country it is today \u201cbecause of the diversity of the people who\u2019ve come here\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Dublin West TD said Ahern \u201ccertainly wasn\u2019t reflecting my party\u2019s value of people who\u2019ve come to Ireland, and the contribution they make across our public service and across our economy\u201d. <\/p>\n

Footage surfaced of Ahern speaking to a woman about immigration during a byelection<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ahern said on Wednesday he had \u201cno problem\u201d with people from Africa or \u201cthe Congo\u201d but that he felt the immigration system should move more quickly. Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> sought to distance Fianna F\u00e1il from Ahern\u2019s comments, saying it was not appropriate to be specific about any ethnicity. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I\u2019ve no problem with people from the Congo or Africa\u2019: Bertie Ahern addresses video commentsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa<\/a> called on the former taoiseach to issue an apology for the comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cWords matter and it is important that his words are clarified,\u201d N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa told RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Morning Ireland. She had been \u201csurprised and saddened\u201d by the comments.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> said Ahern \u201cshould reflect further\u201d on his comments but stopped short of calling for him to apologise.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste was responding in the D\u00e1il<\/a> to Labour<\/a> leader Ivana Bacik <\/a>who described Ahern\u2019s comments as not just \u201coffensive and irresponsible\u201d but \u201cdangerous and inflammatory\u201d.<\/p>\n

She asked if the T\u00e1naiste would \u201ccall him out\u201d and ask him to apologise.<\/p>\n

Bacik said \u201cit was \u201cprofoundly wrong to use language which could direct public anger towards migrants and minorities\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added in the Galway West byelection \u201ca torrent of despicable online abuse has been directed at our Labour candidate Cllr Helen Ogbu\u201d. She called on Facebook<\/a> owner Meta<\/a> \u201cto take responsibility for the hate speech they are facilitating.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said \u201cformer taoiseach Ahern remains a member of the Council of State. He\u2019s more than just a private person making ignorant remarks on the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added it was ironic that \u201cBertie Ahern has the temerity to fuel rhetoric that blames immigrants for systemic problems in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man whose policy brought about the worst financial crash in the history of the State. And since that, crash migrants have played a pivotal role in rebuilding our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris said the comments \u201cweren\u2019t appropriate, they were wrong\u201d. He said it was essential to have \u201csensible and rational discussions around migration policy\u201d.<\/p>\n

But \u201cit\u2019s never acceptable\u201d to \u201cdemonise or stigmatise\u201d an entire group of people based on their race, ethnicity or religion\u201d.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste added the comments caused significant hurt. \u201cI\u2019m quite sure he wouldn\u2019t have intended that harm and therefore I think he should reflect further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent Dublin city councillor Nial Ring described the incident as \u201cgotcha politics at the lowest level\u201d and \u201ca storm in a teacup\u201d. <\/p>\n

EU commissioner Michael McGrath<\/a> said he did not believe Ahern was racist, but he clearly should not have said what he did during a byelection canvass in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Newstalk<\/a>\u2019s Claire Byrne<\/a> show, the former Fianna F\u00e1il minister for finance said it was important for everyone to uphold the fundamental rights of non-discrimination and the integrity of every human being.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Bertie Ahern\u2019s shocking doorstep detonation was no accident. It was a precision exerciseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that all of us do our best every day to uphold those values, because it\u2019s when we start speaking about an entire group of people based on race or colour or ethnicity, it\u2019s a very slippery slope and I think we have to avoid language that is divisive, that can be interpreted a certain way, even if that\u2019s not the intention. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe for a moment that Bertie Ahern is racist. I just don\u2019t believe that. I\u2019ve known him a long time, but he clearly shouldn\u2019t have said what he said. Whether he actually believed it, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he thought Ahern should apologise, McGrath said it was not for him to call on somebody to apologise for what they have said.<\/p>\n

Ahern\u2019s comments were widely criticised by migrant groups and Muslim leaders. <\/p>\n

The Africa Solidarity Centre Ireland condemned the remarks as \u201cvile, reckless and deeply divisive\u201d, saying they were \u201cshocking, discriminatory and entirely unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il deputy leader Jack Chambers has said Bertie Ahern\u2019s comments on immigration are \u201ctotally wrong and inappropriate\u201d.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[15526,9,10,207345,23898,4767,106968,18,877,13,14,6,19,56,17,9170,26736,9171,11,12,15,16,1722,65123,5,5287,44,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-484546","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-byelection","12":"tag-claire-byrne","13":"tag-dail-eireann","14":"tag-dublin-central-constituency","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-facebook","17":"tag-featured-news","18":"tag-featurednews","19":"tag-headlines","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-immigration","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-ivana-bacik","24":"tag-jack-chambers","25":"tag-labour-party","26":"tag-latest-news","27":"tag-latestnews","28":"tag-main-news","29":"tag-mainnews","30":"tag-meta","31":"tag-michael-mcgrath","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-newstalk-radio","34":"tag-simon-harris","35":"tag-top-stories","36":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116573795055383003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484546","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=484546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484546\/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=484546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}