If Eoin Hayes is a racist then the world is safe

Straight talking...

- LARISSA NOLAN

DOES anyone seriously care if Eoin Hayes dressed up as Barack Obama for Halloween back in 2009?

Honestly: who truly believes it makes the Social Democrat a raging racist?

The Eoin Hayes “blackface” controversy - I feel uncomfortable even using that phrase - is ludicrous and an insult to everyone's intelligence.

What his crime amounts to is this: 16 years ago, he inadvisably put on dark makeup in a clumsy attempt at a cheeky tribute to Barack, the first black president of the United States.

Back then, I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas was in the charts, Ireland had gone bust and Ryan Tubridy had just taken over from Gaybo on the Late Late Show.

I remember that Halloween well. I had just given birth to my son, who will reach voting age soon enough.

Meanwhile, Eoin Hayes then a young studentwas at a party in Cork, dressed up as Obama, his political hero, who he would later go to work for and attend his second inauguration.

If Eoin Hayes is a racist, then the world is safe.