A Green Party councillor in Cork has said he is determined to continue in politics despite receiving an endless barrage of online abuse since his election.
Cllr Honore Kamegni has said he has been subject to hundreds of racist comments after posting on social media, especially on X.
A recent post in which he highlighted the proposed conversion of a derelict building into a hotel received almost 300 comments, most of which were abusive and racist.
Mr Kamegni is a first-time councillor, having been elected in June 2024. He said the comments were hurtful and terrible but represented the views of only a tiny minority of people.
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“It doesn’t represent Irish people. During my election campaign, I knocked on over 15,000 doors and spoke to thousands of people. The vast majority were very supportive.
“I know that 99 per cent of Irish people are very good. They’re not part of this, of what is happening online.”
He said most of the racist comments have come from either anonymous accounts or from people living in the UK, US and many other countries around the world. He said he does not reply to any of them.
“There’s no point fighting back with them, because, first of all, there’s no traceability on anything that’s happening online.”
Mr Kamegni said the online comments did not deter him from doing his work as a councillor. “I was elected by people to represent them. I work hard to look after the people that elected me to Cork City Council.”
Born in Cameroon, he moved to Ireland in 2002 and has been living in Cork since 2006. He said he was resilient but worried for younger people who might be discouraged from entering politics because of abuse. He said he worried about his children being exposed to such comments.
In 2026 there should be some way of removing such comments from social media sites, he said.
It comes a day after a Meath county councillor said she was subjected to a racial attack, including being spat on, in Navan.
Nigerian-Irish Yemi Adenuga was walking back to her car in the centre of Navan on Friday night when she was approached by a man who asked if she was “Yemi”.
She said it was not unusual to be stopped in the street by constituents looking for assistance or to have a chat, and she thought this was going to be one of those conversations.
She said he told her: “Shame on you. Shame on you for trying to teach us Irish people how to live our lives in our own country.”
After a further short exchange, she said, he spat at her.
