CRAIG HUGHES: Here is a list of questions Labour and Helen Ogbu refuse to answer. In ignoring the controversy, Ivana Bacik is taking a leaf out of Nigel Farage's Playbook - just not any of the pages that deal with electoral success...

Published: 16:28, 11 July 2026 | Updated: 16:29, 11 July 2026 When the leader of the Irish Labour Party is resorting to the playbook of Nigel Farage, you know the party is in trouble. It’s been two weeks since the Irish Daily Mail first contacted Labour about discrepancies in the back story of the party’s Mayor of Galway, Helen Ogbu. Our queries sparked panic in the Labour ranks.  While they refused even to acknowledge our questions for three days, they were busy working in the background to try and fix it. Ms Ogbu’s personal website erroneously stated that she arrived in Ireland in 2006 with her family, after the tragic assassination of her husband. The problem – as would later be clarified – is that her husband was tragically murdered in 2010 after Mayor Ogbu moved to Ireland in 2005, fearing for her own safety. She first arrived in the country on holiday in 2001 and gave birth to her daughter, who has Irish citizenship as a result of having been born here. Within 24 hours of our first query being sent to Ms Ogbu, her website containing the erroneous claim was taken down, but there was no response to our queries. The Mail decided to doorstep Ms Ogbu at her home, sparking an egregious press release from the party that contained falsehoods about our actions which have yet to be publicly clarified. Labour has claimed that the error – repeated by party leader Ivana Bacik in a letter to Labour members – was a ‘typo’ on a ‘web page’ which was removed once the party was alerted to it. The website read: ‘In 2006, my family and I moved to Ireland, seeking safety and a fresh start after the tragic loss of my husband.’ Why did Ms Ogbu not intervene when numerous media reports, her party leader and Labour TDs repeated the factually incorrect information about her life story? As this column outlined last week, this simply could not be described as a ‘typo’, and trying to hide behind such a flimsy explanation while crying foul about our efforts to seek clarity is risible. The party’s response mirrored that of Reform UK leader Mr Farage who screamed ‘harassment’ when Sky News called to one of his homes, where his daughter lives, seeking to speak with him. Mr Farage has been dodging media scrutiny over financial support he received before he became an MP in 2024.  A £5million donation from crypto–billionaire Christopher Harborne was already the subject of a parliamentary standards investigation and was reportedly referred to the UK’s National Crime Agency. Mr Farage released camera footage of the doorstep in question. One man’s ‘gotcha moment’ is another man’s doing your job properly. The footage shows a car pulling into the driveway, without a camera, and asking the adult a question. This adult, since identified as Mr Farage’s daughter, declined to engage and Sky News left.  Similarly, Labour took issue with the Mail arriving ‘unannounced’ at Ms Ogbu’s door to seek her explanation of inaccuracies that, two weeks later, remain unexplained. When someone is dodging your questions, informing them of your arrival is unlikely to yield a positive outcome. The Mail caught up with Ms Bacik yesterday in leafy south Dublin as she returned from an outing with her supporters.  We can only assume they were engaged in the heinous act of knocking on the doors of strangers unannounced. Ms Bacik told the Mail that she did not have answers for us and we would have to go through their press office. The party has yet to get its story straight, and the plot thickened this week when the Mail revealed that Ms Ogbu shared a video from an African news channel in 2025, prior to the website going live, which erroneously stated she arrived in Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s assassination. This couldn’t have stemmed from the error on the website, which the party has indicated was the source of Ms Bacik sharing the false information in an email to party members after her by–election selection in January. Yet we remain none the wiser as to why Ms Ogbu shared false information about her back story and why the party did the same in her by–election campaign video. Claiming not to have watched a single video she uploaded to her personal YouTube channel stretches the bounds of credibility. Why did Ms Ogbu not intervene when numerous media reports, her party leader and Labour TDs repeated the factually incorrect information about her life story? Did Ms Ogbu ever raise the inaccuracies with the party, which subsequently chose to ignore them?  Did Ms Ogbu provide accurate information to the party at all times?  When did the party first ask for it?  Why have corrections not been sought from media outlets that have reported the false back story? And why was Ms Ogbu sharing media reports on her social media which she knew to be false? These questions, you will not be surprised to hear, remain unanswered. In a bid to stymie a parliamentary standards commission investigation, Mr Farage resigned as an MP for Clacton, triggering a by–election he is contesting to ‘let the people decide’ if they think he is innocent or not.  Mr Farage's only challenger in the contest, which the main parties are refusing to legitimise by running candidates, is the comedic character Count Binface. His absence from parliament pauses the investigation. His only challenger in the contest, which the main parties are refusing to legitimise by running candidates, is the comedic character Count Binface. Ironically, Mr Farage – a former City banker who has been a politician for 30 years but claims to be an ‘anti–establishment’ figure – finds himself in an election with an actual protest candidate the electorate could turn to, however unlikely it might be. Ms Bacik, on the other hand, could soon find herself in a contest of her own as trouble brews within her own ranks over her shambolic handling of this controversy and the stubbornly low opinion poll ratings. Labour party sources have told the Mail that heads in the party are still spinning over its disastrous handling of the controversy surrounding Ms Ogbu. With polls consistently putting the party at 3%–4%, it’s clear that the left–wing party led by a privately–educated TD who lives in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the country somehow doesn’t cut through with the electorate. Running scared from questions doesn’t inspire much confidence either. The political futures of Ms Bacik and Mr Farage are uncertain.  While there is no natural successor in Reform to Mr Farage, his party continues to poll strongly, but the same can’t be said of Labour. The party conference in November will be pivotal for Ms Bacik: can she steady a ship that some in the party believe is sinking? Some believe only a new captain can save it. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.