A former Labour Party councillor in Cork remained defiant yesterday over statements he made on radio about immigrants and asylum-seekers.
Mr Joe O'Callaghan could face expulsion from the party after an internal complaint was lodged against him.
The party's leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn, said yesterday he was "surprised and saddened" by remarks by Mr O'Callaghan, which he has referred to an internal complaints body.
However, Mr O'Callaghan said last night he had "no regrets" about his comments. "I have no problem with Labour Party policy. I am just expressing a feeling on the ground. That is my democratic right."
Mr O'Callaghan, a former Lord Mayor of Cork, had also told RT╔'s Liveline programme last Monday that asylum-seekers should be deported if they committed a serious crime. He also called for a referendum on the current law whereby anybody born in Ireland automatically becomes an Irish citizen, regardless of the nationality of their parents.
Speaking on the Liveline programme yesterday, Mr Quinn said: "I have referred his Mr O'Callaghan's comments to the Complaints Panel of the Labour Party. They will be looking at what he has had to say in due course and will examine all the circumstances."
The five-member complaints body will decide whether Mr O'Callaghan's words were "inconsistent with the principles and objectives" of the party. The party's complaints procedure, which includes a right to appeal, is likely to take months to complete.
While Mr O'Callaghan could ultimately be expelled from the party, Mr Quinn added that "hopefully it won't come to that".
Asylum-seekers who become parents of children born in Ireland are entitled to apply to remain in the State to care for their offspring, who are automatically Irish citizens.
Official figures for the first nine months of this year show that 2,436 people were granted permission to remain, on the grounds that they were parents of Irish-born children.
Of these, 1,838 were current or former asylum-seekers.
Mr Quinn said yesterday he supported the automatic entitlement of people born in Ireland to citizenship, in accordance with the Constitution and the Good Friday agreement.
He also emphasised that his party was in favour of granting the right to work to all asylum-seekers, a position supported by the Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, as well as by church and human rights groups.
Mr Quinn said he had heard complaints about the number of people who seem to be forced into idleness because they are not allowed to work.
"These are people who come to this country for a variety of different reasons.
"They come from countries that are impoverished, or countries like Nigeria, where there is serious ethnic tension now, compounded by religious divisions between Muslim and Christian communities," he added.
Labour has signed an anti-racism protocol which commits it "to ensure election campaigns are conducted in such a way that they do not incite hatred or prejudice on the grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic or national origins, religious belief and membership of the Travelling community".