Independent Dublin city councillor Philip Sutcliffe has issued a public apology after sharing an image of a spoiled ballot paper for the presidential election on one of his social media accounts.
The ballot paper, which was shared on a number of Mr Sutcliffe’s social media accounts, was defaced with hate speech and slurs about the presidential candidates.
Among the statements written on the spoiled paper are a call to “Deport all Africans!” and “Deport All Indians!” and “Ban Same-Sex Adoption”.
Catherine Connolly, now president-elect, is referred to as “commie filth”; Jim Gavin, the Fianna Fáil candidate who stopped campaigning but remained on the ballot, is called a “gombeen” along with the words “who even is he?”. Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys is called an “Ulster Loyalist”. Abusive comments are also made about Roma and LGBT people.
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Cllr Sutcliffe, an associate of ex-MMA fighter Conor McGregor, acknowledged the post appeared on his social media accounts on polling day, but said it was “accidentally shared”.
Addressing the Dublin City Council meeting on Monday night, he said a statement had been issued on his social media account explaining the situation.
Lord Mayor Ray McAdam read Mr Sutcliffe’s statement into the record, which said: “I want to apologise for the post that appeared on my social media on polling day. The post had been forwarded to me and I was also tagged in it, and it was accidentally shared on my accounts. I wasn’t aware it had gone up on my social media account.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that the image was not my ballot paper and the content of that post was absolutely disgusting and completely unacceptable. I would never share anything like that.
“I take full responsibility for what happened and I’m very sorry for any offence or confusion caused. It was an honest mistake and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said it would be “more fitting” if Cllr Sutcliffe “took responsibility” by issuing the apology in the council chamber.
In the context of recent racist attacks in Dublin and Drogheda, “the least we can be expected is the councillor would read out that apology himself”, Cllr Doolan said.
Cllr McAdam said it would have been his preference also, but the statement had now been read into the record.
Cllr Sutcliffe was elected to the council last year as a candidate for Independent Ireland. He ran as a candidate for the party in the general election later last year but resigned from the party after it said it did “not condone his association with Conor McGregor”.
Mr Sutcliffe was Mr McGregor’s boxing coach. He accompanied the MMA fighter to the High Court last November for the conclusion of the civil action for assault taken against Mr McGregor by Dublin woman Nikita Hand. A High Court jury awarded €248,603 damages to Ms Hand after finding she was raped by Mr McGregor in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
