LAST UPDATE | 15 Sep 2025

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TD EOIN Hayes has issued an apology for wearing “brown makeup” on his face and hands while dressing up as then US president Barack Obama at a Halloween party in 2009.

Hayes wore the costume while president of University College Cork’s student union. 

In a statement released this evening, Hayes said that a news outlet, understood to be the Irish Daily Mail, has obtained images of Hayes at the event and will publish them tomorrow. 

He said he had “dressed up as someone I greatly admired at the time, US President Barack Obama – whose re-election campaign I went on to work for in 2012.

“As part of this costume I wore brown makeup on my face and hands.”

Hayes added that he didn’t have an understanding of “how hurtful” such an action was at the time and has since come to realise how “completely inappropriate” it was, calling it a “huge mistake”.

He said he condemns racism and takes full responsibility. Hayes’s admission comes the night before the Social Democrats’ think-in.

A party spokesperson said: “The Social Democrats abhor all forms of racism. Deputy Hayes has acknowledged that what he did was wrong, offensive and hurtful. He has taken full responsibility for his actions and issued an unreserved apology.”

Related Reads

People Before Profit slam SocDems for readmitting Eoin Hayes following Palantir controversy

'Embarrassed is an understatement': SocDems says it's taken 'a knock' with Hayes controversy

It is the second scandal to hit the new TD, who was only recently readmitted to the party after he admitted to supplying incorrect information about when he had sold his shares in Palantir, an IDF-linked company he had previously worked for.

The Social Democrats’ acting leader Cian O’Callaghan brought Hayes back into the fold at the end of June after seven months’ suspension.