Overview

• Images of Hayes wearing brown make-up in a 2009 Barack Obama costume were published on Tuesday by the Irish Daily Mail.
• Hayes issued an unreserved apology, calling the costume a huge mistake from his time as UCC Students’ Union president, and said he takes full responsibility.
• Holly Cairns described blackface as a form of racism, said she is disappointed, and reiterated that the Social Democrats abhor all kinds of racism.
• Hayes will not attend the party’s think-in in Dublin as the parliamentary group considers the issue, and Cairns said his party membership is not in question.
• Cairns learned of the photographs from media on Monday; the controversy follows Hayes’s July readmission after a suspension over late Palantir share sales and a donation of €43,443 to Gaza aid groups.