‘It is an attack on many people’ – Peadar Tóibín on Ógra Aontú members secret WhatsApp group

The Sunday Independent, is reporting that Aontú has fired its youth leader and five others over participation in a racist WhatsApp group. 

This is not a party affiliated WhatsApp group, but these are Ógra Aontú members who are engaged in this private WhatsApp.  

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín told The Anton Savage Show that they had only been aware of the WhatsApp group’s existence since Friday the 17th of October, and had no prior knowledge of the group.  

“It was not a sanctioned, WhatsApp group, indeed it was a secret one, and when we learned of it, all the individuals involved were immediately suspended. 

“Since then, six have been permanently removed from the party. 

“We were sickened to our stomachs in relation to the repulsive content in this particular WhatsApp group. 

“It is an attack on many people. 

“But it’s also an attack on the policies, ethos, and the constitution of our party. 

“Equality is a foundation stone of our organization, and we have zero tolerance.” 

Shocking

Mr Tóibín went on to explain that this group of individuals does not give an accurate representation of the party as a whole.  

“Obviously, this type of content is deeply shocking, and it’s just mind-numbing in its content. 

“But it’s important to say that this group of individuals make up less than a tenth of one percent of our organisation. 

“Even though in a subverted way, they sought to bring more people into their group, they weren’t able to go beyond what was a very, very small number of people. 

“This shows that there wasn’t a pool of people for them to draw on within our organisation.” 

Overall, Mr Tóibín expressed a deep concern for certain young people and their affinity to harmful online content. 

“It is heartbreaking for me to see some young people in this country, unfortunately, allowing their hearts to be hardened by radical online social media content. 

“And it’s an issue that every single political party is going to have to make sure that we stamp out.”