EMBATTLED SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TD Eoin Hayes left his party leader to face the media today following the revelation last night that he wore brown make-up when dressing up as Barack Obama while he was in university in 2009. 

The Social Democrats held their annual think-in ahead of the return of the Dáil from its summer recess this week, but on what should have been a day when the party set out its policy stall and welcomed leader Holly Cairns back from maternity leave, Hayes featured in many of the questions from reporters. 

Cairns confirmed to reporters that it was Hayes, not her, that made the decision for him not to attend today.

Earlier today, the Cork South-West TD had told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that she and her party had only learned of the photos of Hayes dressed as the former US president last night when contacted by The Daily Mail.

In a statement issued last night, Hayes apologised, calling the costume “completely inappropriate” and a “huge mistake”. 

In her opening comments at the think-in today, Cairns said that there are “no circumstances” in which blackface is acceptable.

“It is racist,” she said, adding that she was “glad” that Hayes had acknowledged that fact and that “he didn’t understand the implications of how hurtful it was, at the time, but he does now”. 

Cairns was repeatedly asked if she had trust in Hayes and if he still had a place in the party, especially in light of a past scandal involving the timing of his selling of shares in Palantir, a company that facilitates Israel’s war against Gaza in Palestine and for which he worked before entering politics.

Cairns said that the party had yet to hold a meeting to discuss Hayes’ latest indiscretion, indicating that his fate may remain in the balance. 

But she also said that had Hayes dressed up in that manner “a week or even a year ago”, he would no longer be a member of the party.

“Look, I can’t say that the issue is behind us,” Cairns said. 

“This is the first time that we’ve gathered as a parliamentary party. We only found out about this information yesterday.

She added that “we always encourage robust debate and discussion in the party, but we’ll be moving forward together and looking forward to putting it behind us”.

Answering questions about the quality of the party’s vetting procedures, Cairns said:

“I know that we’re going to make mistakes, and I think the important thing is, how do we respond to them? Do we learn from them?

“And we have been undertaking a root and branch reform for internal structures to ensure we don’t have scenarios like this.”

While questions about Hayes dominated today’s press event, Cairns was also asked about the Social Democrats’ support for presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, whom she described as “an incredibly sound and warm person”.

In response to questions about some of Connolly’s past decisions, including nominating Gemma O’Doherty for president in the 2018 election. Cairns said that she was satisfied with Connolly’s answers to those questions, which have been raised on a number of occasions since the Galway TD launched her bid for the Áras.

Outside of the presidential race and the party’s latest controversy, Cairns was asked about the government’s assertion that there will be no energy credits for households in this year’s budget and if that was something her party would support. 

“The blanket payments for energy that were one-off are not something we’re in favour of,” she said because “they weren’t targeted”.

“We saw the astronomical figure, for example, that went to holiday homes, second homes around the country. That is not the approach that we would take.

“We do recognise that a lot of people are struggling. Children living in consistent poverty doubled last year, when this was apparently the priority of the last government. So we also recognise that there does need to be a more targeted support there.”