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JUNIOR MINISTER DAMIEN English has said Dublin losing the Web Summit to Lisbon is actually a “success story”.
Speaking on the The Week in Politics, English said: “Summits are always going to move.”
The Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation said he viewed the decision as a success as it showcased that an Irish company was growing internationally.
“We’re lucky that we managed to keep it in Ireland for so long. It won’t stay in Lisbon forever either … You export your best products and services.”
On Wednesday, Web Summit co-founder and CEO Paddy Cosgrave said that after “careful consideration” the company had decided to move the event – after much speculation.
Portuguese media reported government “investment” in the event totalled €1.3 million.
Today the Sunday Business Post reports that Cosgrave sought free public transport for attendees at the conference and a traffic plan that would have shut down ”a chuck of the city”.
The article notes that as talks went on they became “increasingly fractious” before breaking down entirely.
More than 22,000 attendees attended the 2014 event at Dublin’s RDS Arena, but the event was plagued by Wifi problems. About 30,000 people are expected to attend this November’s event in the capital.
Fáilte Ireland said the 2014 conference was worth €100 million to the Irish economy.
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Why? Because although we might not know our Right from our Left, we definitely know our Right from our Wrong.
In general yes…
Because all our looneys are far left lefties .
Same difference
Our Lefties are great champions for, and represent the far right of non Europeans.
Because the left in Ireland was exported from the time of the 1913 Lockout on, through the Civil War (and judicial murders of people like Liam Mellows) and afterwards, into the far-right Catholic rule of the 1940s/50s when no leftist could get a job, and to the neo-liberal groupthink and newspeak of the 1960s to today, when any egalitarianism was seen as unrealistic, foolish myth, whereas where-there’s-muck-there’s-brass money-grubbing was seen as a golden ideal.
As for “why don’t we have a far right party”, it’s there, waiting to spring into being. Talk to taxi drivers, the natural barometers of the political lowest common denominator.
Simple.
In other countries Governments are afraid of the people, here the people are afraid of the government.
@ Rob.. I think your comment sums it up nicely …
Rob, thats certainly made my day. That is the case in Ireland. I’ll celebrate tonight on that, cheers to you.
Mere sheep that’s all we are – just looking at scenes from Madrid – at least they are out marching against austerity measures and rising unemployment whilst we the mighty Irish are doing f#ck all – we have a street angel house devil government pandering to Europe whilst giving its own citizens a kick in between the legs and you know the worst part we are doing nothing….. Far right Is definitely going too far but a new party who will stand up for us is what I want
Sadly u are Right!!!
Nah. If you look at recent opinion polls you can clearly see that the once popular parties have declined and independents are on the rise. Politics are changing here, same as any other stable nation. Just because people don’t rush to the streets during a crisis does not mean they are passive, just means that we respect our constitution and will change the nation by the means provided for us in a way that adheres to the laws of our country. It may be slower but I’d rather have slow than violent. I’m as angry and hurt as the next guy over how our gorvernment messes up but I don’t think rioting would be justified, or whatever it is you think would make the government shake in their boots. More marches would be good though. Mabey I’m too young to be cynical yet but thats my two cents.
Maybe the fact that we are a nation of immigrants ourselves has sometimg to do with. Not sure of percentage but I’m sure it’s pretty high of people that have family members that have been forced to leave these shores. So, I guess it would be quite hypocritical for us to be embracing far right ideals.
True David, but then you can’t deny the vitriol in the comments on yesterday’s column with respect to asylum seekers.
cause nobody could handle the shame of being spoken about on joe duffy
That is the last thing this country needs.Scares the bejesus out of me!
I’m confused. 20 years ago Ireland consisted almost entirely of natives with broadly similar ethnicity, but now we have 12% of non-Irish ethnicity. I think it’s fair to assume that the vast majority of those are recent immigrants.
So 65% of people in Ireland believe that immigration (the vast majority of immigrants are economic migrants looking for work) has an impact on unemployment.
Is that an extreme right wing view?
Even The Labour Party has moved to the right. We’ve plenty right wingers in Ireland already thanks!
Agree with rodrigo. A party of the working class that draws its support from SIPTU but cuts benefits. Not a party of the left…
Yes because giving out free stuff is an essential element of the looney left.
@Jim, yes, it is an extreme right wing view, because it is demonstrably untrue. There is not a fixed quota of jobs in the country, for which everyone is competing. If immigrants come and increase the population, then there is more demand for goods and services, and therefore more jobs.
Furthermore, since they have made the difficult step of leaving home, immigrants tend to have higher initiative and a problem-solving attitude. This is particularly true in the case of Ireland’s immigrants, who are on average better educated than the native population.
If immigration had an impact on unemployment, we should have expected a surge in unemployment at the same time as immigration peaked. Obviously this did not happen.
To blame immigrants for unemployment is basically disguising racism by offering an economic justification – as this author wrote, “making xenophobic attitudes sound acceptable”.
Cormac
Excellent post, spot on!
That’s great Logic Cormac, more people more jobs, so we fill the planet with more than the current 7 billion so we can create even more and more jobs, just to supply services and look after them.
@Cormac
You are making bizarre and unsubstantiated statements.
Otherwise known as ‘talking shite’
@John Er… Perhaps you mistook “Men in Black” as social commentary. We are not currently dealing with immigrants from other planets. The earth’s population remains unchanged by cross-border immigration.
@Jim “You are making bizarre and unsubstantiated statements” is an unsubstantiated statement.
You’ve just given me an idea..
Rich mans country with docile working population who have a pathetic idea that having material gain is seen as successful.Ireland is seen as a joke across continent. And before the red thumbs start over a 100 jobs to go today in Roscommon ….. But never mind 10 or 20 jobs in a chicken factory will give newstalk something to crow about.The Government led media makes me sick!
Newstalk is privately owned…
So is Fox News….
You could have fooled me!! I thought we had the regular Gestapo running our country now??
Yes because people have been rounded up, tortured and killed.
Not all politics fits on a number line of ‘right’ and ‘left’. At the end of the day the biggest problem of the moment determines the political party doctrines. And right now that’s the economy & debt.. not immigration, class divides or any social policy platform. I’m more surprised that some sort of liberal party or libertarian party hasn’t surfaced. With fiscal conservatism but socially liberal.
The PDs?
Neil, You are correct.
Well said Neil. I have no interest in persecuting homosexuals, nor in fostering skin colour issues in our society. But I want a justice system that is tough on criminals and I want our government to spend little and tax little. Who will represent me? Left and right is only useful for study of 20th century history.
Winston, it’s not even very useful then. People keep calling the Nazis a “far right” party, when in fact they were socialists. Hitler believed he was more likely to recruit communists than liberals – he was demonstrably correct. The same applies to the BNP, Le Pen, even Golden Dawn are all left-leaning. Geert Wilders is just about the only genuine right-winger amongst the rabid anti-immigration crowd, and his platform of better public healthcare is hardly the sort of stuff which gets the left into a tizzy.
@ Alex, the Nazis weren’t socialists at all. Socialism is about the belief that all people should be treated equally, regardless of gender or ethnicity, and without any ranks or class and that the means and benefits of labour should be distributed equally between all in society. The Nazis vehemently believed in ranks and class and certainly didn’t believe in treating all people equally. They were also great believers in large corporations which generated wealth for a select few. They may have adopted the name of socialism in their party’s name, but that doesn’t mean they were socialist. As a modern example of an entity which describes itself as one thing but operates as something else, take a look at North Korea, or officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – it’s neither democratic nor a republic.
Cause theres 2 many old school oul wans n oul lads in this country who still vote 4 parties like fianna fail n alot younger more open minded people dont bother voting cos its a load of nonesense, u vote no n they rerun the election.
You were educated in Ireland?
Voter apathy among our young is a luxury of our welfare state.
The reason there are extremist parties in the Mediterranean countries is that the young are fighting for subsistence.
A hungry man is an angry man.
@Gabháin
I’m not a member of the far-right, but I am a Grammar Nazi.
Would it be in our DNA to be a bit submissive because of our history
Not being a fascist doesn’t make you submissive.
I’d like to see Ireland stay “Irish”. Is that “Right Wing”?
So that’s what all those murders and bombings 1970-1999 were about?
@Patrick, yes. That’s a frightening attitude.
@Mel, no. That’s not what it was about.
Whatever about ‘right wing’, it’s blatantly racist.
I’d like to see Ireland where everyone is treated equally and fairly.
It’s because people in Ireland are and have always been deeply conservative in their beliefs. Influenced by religion and De Valera. People opt for the safe option so failing that the even safer option.
I think it’s because we’re sick of the church and their own right-wing rhetoric.
The DUP is the only far-right party in Ireland.
There’s also the TUV, which is a more extreme off-shoot of the DUP.
Ah, sure its himself that Jim Allister character! Reading up a little on them now for the first time and terrified! So glad that they, like the DRM (who I also didn’t mention, not because of ignorance this time but because they’re too small to actually factor in to anything) are tiny and marginalised. Let’s hope it stays that way.
We don’t have an ultra right-wing party because we already have three parties (FF, FG,Lab) doing a splendid job in defending the interests of the financial elite and because there is a deafening silence from the left.
It’s only when capitalism is under serious threat that the ‘business’ class get the thugs out on the street.
I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t some political conspiracy to protect the financial elite.
Each party in Ireland represents a bunch of people that voted for them. The majority of people vote with their pocket, for the party that promises to either put more in their pocket, or take less from it. A minority of people are directly impacted by services, for themselves or loved ones, based on medical needs, special educational needs etc. The rest of the people vote for single issue candidates based on some serious pressing need in their constituency or locality.
The reason FF got back in, in 2007, was that a majority didn’t give a damn what everyone else had, they only knew that the ‘economic miracle’ had put more in their pockets, had turned their houses into pensions, and seemed to be providing a future for their kids. That and the naivety of those voting Green (myself included) who wanted to vote for the opposition but couldn’t stomach FG/Labour.
The reason FF were thrashed in 2011, is that people now knew that FF had mortgaged their futures (and that of their kids) to put money in peoples pockets to buy votes. Everyone was hemorrhaging disposable income by 2011, through budgets, cutbacks and paycuts. They looked at the opposition who promised to stop the rot, and a majority voted with their pockets again – believing either that Labour would take on the big boys in Frankfurt, that Enda would steer us back into calmer waters, or simply voting for “not Fianna Fáil”.
People will vote with their pockets again come the next election. A minority will be influenced by their poverty or wealth, a majority will look for the party that promises to help people in their particular income bracket climb a rung on the social ladder.
As for the behaviour of the politicians currently in power? Do not attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by incompetence
As I never suggested a conspiracy or attributed the actions of political parties to malice, your comment is off-topic.
The three parties of the right publish their policies and their spokespeople spend hours on the airwaves explaining them. They are still the parties that support the financial string-pullers and that is why we don’t have the more violent parties of the right – at present.
“Defending the interests of the financial elite” ascribes malice to elected representatives, since they are elected to represent the people.
Our elected representatives are keeping the lights on. Some of the decisions they make are regrettable and ill-informed, but with creditors keeping our economy alive with the annual injection of an 11-figure sum, we cannot afford to pi$$ them off by not doing what they say. We can only reason with them.
The government is not working for the elite, it is trying to manage the downsizing of government expenditure to match our economy, while pretending we can grow the income side by appeasing the masses with little taxes.
@ Rónán – Germans also ‘voted with their pockets’ when sick of the Weimar republic and hyperinflation. A right-wing chap offered a solution.
Winston, that chap was economically centrist but quite authoritarian, in fact he was about economically centrist as the Irish Labour Party is
Ronan, I agreed with your first point but you are taking it too far when you suggest the current government is “is trying to manage the downsizing of government expenditure to match our economy”.
They are not. In fact, they closely resemble their predecessors Fianna Failed.
I take it then you’ve never heard of the Clearing House Group? They’ve got a direct line to the Taoiseach’s office and represent the nation’s financial interests. It’s because of their influential connections and bogus reports of concern that the FTT (Financial Transaction Tax) was rejected by Kenny and Gilmore despite its overwhelming popularity.
We have Fainna Fàil and Fine Gael ,
We do Maria..excellent observation.
Why do people continue to conflate authoritarian policies with the “Right”? The left/right paradigm is losing ground as we consider the current socio-political landscape. Enter the political compass, keep your economic left/right and add in a perpendicular authoritarian/libertarian axis.
Then you see that the BNP, which you’d call “right wing” is actually moderate on the economic scale and extreme on the authoritarian/libertarian axis. Rate yourself if you want to: http://www.politicalcompass.org
But as far as extremer parties in Ireland are concerned, well they aren’t a path to being internationally liked, are they? http://bocktherobber.com/2012/11/infantile-ireland/
I haven’t moved much on the compass since college:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-5.50&soc=-7.18
However, what I think and what I do are two different things. As I get older, earn more and pay more tax, I find the reality of my vote (my only actuated political expression) very different to my ideals. There are a number of reasons for this:
1. An acceptance of the system, and my own selfish clambering to maintain my position in the Irish micro-society
2. The reality that a socialist libertarian society cannot go it alone, would be punished by the outside western world, and without authoritarianism would appeal to greed (including mine, as expressed in 1 above) and a neo-liberal agenda would creep back in, dragging whatever conservatism was prevalent in the society with it.
In the context of Ireland, we don’t have a far right because we simply don’t have it as bad as any of the PIGs. 15% unemployment still equates to 85% employment, and our employed are paid very well indeed when measured against those countries that have viable extremist parties.
Whatever the inequalities in Irish society, we simply don’t have the inequality that exists elsewhere. Poverty is real here, but we don’t have so many people below the line. Wealth is real here, but we don’t have such extreme concentrations as in other countries. As a result, we have a very large coping class (the so called squeezed middle) and a smaller, but still large, middle class.
The largest group by far is the coping class, who are pressed (within the context of their social expectations) but are doing just about OK.
- At one end of the spectrum, they know they are fallible, live amongst or are close to people who are poor, and vote centre left – keeping one eye on what they are lucky to have. They want transfers from the real middle and wealthy to move them towards the real middle.
- At the other end of the spectrum, they look enviously at the real middle class, stretch themselves to buy houses in ‘good’ areas to live amongst them. They want to protect what they have, but also try to improve their lot. They vote centre-right and want tax breaks to achieve their goals.
I know the above is a little simplistic and generalized, and obviously doesn’t apply to everyone, but by and large that’s my experience of Irish society and culture. We don’t trust our elected representatives, but we distrust anything extremist more – possibly part of our psyche as a young nation.
This is an informed and thought-provoking comment piece that managed to stay balanced. Well done The Journal and Rory Costello.
And almost as an aside to the main point, this really got me thinking:
‘Another reason is that our PR-STV electoral system incentivises parties to put forward vague policy platforms, so as not to alienate any voters who might consider giving them a second preference.’
I had never considered that impact before, and think it goes some way towards explaining the relative lack of ideological difference in the parties here.
Coming from the UK I see no difference in any of your parties compared to the UK where you can see the Tories are very right wing and EVIL.
Tories = Fine Gael
Labour ie left wing = incompetent.
“I see no difference in any of your parties compared to the UK where you can see the Tories are very right wing and EVIL.”
The spirit of Sir Robin Day lives on.
You call the Tories Evil?
You must have been living under a rock, or at least never read any history, or for that matter never watched any T.V. Perhaps your address is Toyland,
Say good morning to Mr Plod,Noddy and Big Ears for me.
We aren’t buck mad so we don’t have any Nazis. I would hope the people of Ireland would have a bit of sense
DDI Direct Democracy Ireland is launching today the 14 Nov 2012 at Buswell’s Hotel, Molesworth st Dublin. at 2 pm. Is this is the answer to your problems?
Their plan to return the power to the people.
Their mandate makes for interesting reading.
1 Arrest all corrupt politicans and bankers.
2 Make the banks pay for their mistakes.
3 Redirect all public finances to schools, hospitals and to people who enhance our society.
4 Begin using an Irish version of Direct Democracy and call a referendum on all major problems we face.
5 Start planning for our future.
Is sure is interesting reading:
1. Arrest on what proof? Are they to overhaul the legal system and replace with kanagaroo courts?
2. Ah, the money tree. The banks have no money. That’s why we’re paying for their mistakes.
3. ALL public finances? Who arbitrates on whether or not someone ‘enhances’ society. Also, I think you’ll find that education, health and welfare make up the vast majority of our budget already. So do they mean paycuts?
4. Weekly referendums, or referendums with 50 questions on each like the yanks? Who decides the order of display? Do people get to bury tricky questions at the end of the ballot where no-one cares anymore
5. What future? A future of mob rule, kangaroo courts, shiny schools and hospitals based on money-tree economics
Ya and I’m after creating the panda party where the rain that falls from the sky is a currency and anyone that earns too much money is a naughty person that deserves to be prosecuted
Ronan if you sincerely want to understand why there is so much turmoil in our world simply go on the alternative media and do some research. I did this 5 years ago and each week I did about 40 to 50 hours research for the past 5 years and slowly you will begin to understand how the world really works. Most of what you read in the mainstream media is not true – I’m speaking about important things like how our banking system really works. An excellent website here in Ireland is http://www.oymireland.com/ also google From Freedom to Fascism by Aaron Russo.
Right….so it has absolutely nothing to do with groups like AFA or certain journalists who constantly monitor , confront , name and shame individuals attempting to stir up racism? While I appreciate the article , I do think there’s a lot of information left out on why a right wing party has not been ‘successful’ on any part of this island. There are community groups north and south of the boarder that work with young groups , trying to educate and integrate kids and young adults of different denominations through many different actives including sport and music. These are the people that stop a right wing party getting a foothold. Lets hope they keep up the amazing work.
I along with my family are Sinn Fein supporters,My dad worked all his life up until he got a brain heammorage in the ESB and instilled in all 8 of us get jobs,work hard and pay your taxes,husband and i reared 4 children 2 have emigrated to Australia 1 with a wildlife biology degree other with Business,for the few mnths they were on welfare cos couldnt get jobs they were made to feel like spongers by our green jersey media,if ever a far right or far left party emerges full of hatred it will be their fault,lets not forget this was the same media who slated Prof Morgan Kelly and now seem to have banned Dr Constantine Gordgiev from our airwaves and TVs for the simple reason he has no agenda only to tell us the true facts,so lets not blame SF,I actually have no problem with capitalism but im afraid that train left the station night of garauntee,i havnt a problem with socialism wants its not highjacked like it was ere by Jack O Connor and Bertie Ahearn ,so for once will our green media stop blaming SF and look closer to home.
Hold on so if a party says what everyone is thinking and is prepared to defend peoples rights they will be branded as a right wing fundamentalist party full of young men with all balls and no brains.So common sense is construed as a platform for testosterone and ignorance by the same establishment who only promoted obscene foolishness greed corruption inflated egos all on the false pretense of being the only ones with the proper mindset to run a country .THE country is in ruins because of stupidity class cronism non imagination and the same ol tactics and bluff that has kept us back since the British aristocracy left if they ever have but if they did they left behind a system and willing servents to implement their impearilist ideology.Some damn anyone that is saying something different like Sinn Fein and then say because we the media and green jersey jokerjourno’s suspect that they could be right wing so follow us because even though we are complete shite and a part of the overall problem in this country .YES stick with our mentality because we suspect that the people that are trying to replace our disasterous regime might be worse .Now who’s been populist and insulting to the reader.There’s only one far right wing radicals in this country and its FG/FF THEY’L TELL YE THAT THEMSELVES.
What happened to Irish National Party?The BNP of Eire!
I wanted to start an Irish branch of Golden dawn….but apparently My mates .Ahmed,Ali,Jesus,Mohomad and razor were not good enough for the bastards.That type of discrimination pisses me off…big time.
Who decided that if someone is anti immigrant they are already on the political right? Xenophobia is not a tenet of the right wing. You talk to any Sinn Fein supporter and I imagine they would happily spout xenophobic nonsense about the poles and the Latvians etc.
Don’t think so. It’s not reflected in any of their policies or any of their supporters I’ve ever met. Despite what you would personally like to imagine.
We don’t have a Far Right party because the Far Left in Ireland is not seen as a threat to the status quo.
I think the tragic news about Savita Halappanavar has proven that the far right have taken over a long time ago.
Well we sided with the Nazis in WWII so I guess we learnt our lesson.
Give them a place to dock in world War 1 as well.
an article that puts Syriza on the far left makes u wonder about the validity of its analysis
Firstly i don’t believe that caper that the ”foreigners are doing the jobs the irish don’t want to do”,that’s bullshit right there,and you have been called out on it,my cousin failed her leaving certificate and went for a shop job in centra did the interview and all that,only to see there next week a pakistani man working there the next week..She was willing to do the job,but the paki got the job probably to fill racial quotas i don’t know exactly but its bullshit of the highest order you saying that!
There is a new movement in ireland to touch on my second point,they are known as the natioanalist movement ireland,and also direct democracy ireland,is about delivering democracy direct to you,they are right wing and they want to RESTORE DEMOCRACY which our current politicians want to take away from us and give completely to EUROPE!!!!!
Time to start voting direct democracy ireland today..Before it is too late..
Where’s my comment gone ??
I love when left wingers try to DEFINE what a Right Winger or a Conservative is. They consistently get it wrong every time. Sigh. As if Left WING is ever a better option. I prefer the moderate approach myself. A little give and take without forcing bullshit on us.
Name a true moderate.
Fianna Fáil tried to portray themselves as the party for the business men and the average working guy for years and that led to low taxes (which the rich love) and high public services (which everyone else loves). Ultimately, they don’t work together.
You’re either for the workers or you’re for those who control the work. The lie of moderatism is that a party can ever do both. The struggle is an exploitative relationship. You must pick a side.
When parties lack ideology, money does the talking. Always has, always will.
There is groups llike DRM and a few small wrap far right parties. Read Brian Whelans articles,a great journalist who writes on these things. Crush fascism…
Not a helpful article. First it ignores the simple fact that BANKS, DEVELOPERS and POLITICIANS were and remain the source of the current crisis, a crisis that began in the private sector, which was then made into a public sector crisis (bank debt transferred to govt. debt). Second while correct to note the centrist stance of FF/FG both are parties of the right what FF did however was build a base in working class areas using populist nationalist rhetoric in order to build a cross class alliance where clientelism ensured everyone got some slice of the cake. This was done to marginalise the Labour party who have compounded this by putting the national interest before class interest since its foundation in 1918. This is not unique as every european centre-left party has done this since 1914. Sinn Fein is not a left wing party, in times of crisis SF splits to the left and right, note the vitriol reserved for the Workers of Dublin during the 1913 Lockout spouted by Arthur Grifftith while many rank and file members supported Connolly & Larkin. More recently the armed struggle gained for SF international solidarity and weakened the racist element until recently as newer members can hold such anti-immigrant sentiments. The standard charge of the racist white working class is a trope of academics and media alike who live far more comfortable lives barely effected by austerity. It is a very useful divide and rule tactic which ignores the history of fascist parties. The support base of fascism was and remains the middle class, with some support from the more from lumpen elements (criminals, most downtrodden of the poor). A quick reading of the BNP membership list leaked in 2009 showed people employed as dentists, estate agents, other self employed, security guards, members of the police & junior army officers. Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros is a small business person. 48% of Greek police support the party. The most resistant part of society to fascism is organised workers as Greece shows now and in the 1930′s Spain, Britain for a time then later France, Italy, former Yugoslavia, former Czechoslovakia, Greece, Poland and more. Costello ignores many anti-racist initiatives that have been active for some time eg AFA, ANL, ARN Ireland. Also unlike the continent racism in Ireland is unorganised a consequence of anti-racist activity. The main purveyors of racism in Ireland are the State and the media. Had the level of abuse hurled at the public sector over the last 4 years been directed at immigrants there would be a nazi party up an running. The way to combat such developments is to have a broad vibrant anti-racist movement as part of the fight against austerity that is independent of the union leaders who are wedded to & acting on behalf of the labour party leadership. Gilmore, Rabbitte etc want no demonstrations, strikes etc. Jack O’Connor agrees with them & will only call strikes if put under pressure to do so. Just as union leaders across europe today 14th Nov have been forced to. The task is big, history will not forgive us if we fail. Indeed it could quite possibly cost many people their lives. The racist murder of Toyosi Shitta-bey and others is a sober reminder of the consequenses.
Not quite true. The crisis started in the private sector, but the public sector was bought and paid for using tax money that effectively originated from debt. Why do you think there are no regulation? This became a public problem long before the debt transfer, and our public spending deficit dwarfs the cost of the bank guarantee.
the reason is greed we want everything
Isn’t it called Sinn Fein?
They’re left of labour, supportive of immigration, pro gay rights, opposed to racism. Doesn’t sound far right to me. Sounds like a working class left wing party.
There is no left or right, just oppression and freedom.
Fascists will be hounded out & not allowed to operate, they had been trying to organise here, & got a good kick up the arse for themselves as they ran away.
- Difficult to establish new political parties.
- Old people still vote for Civil War parties.
- Rightwing politics villified (even the PDs who were mere centre-right) by the Leftwing/Liberal media.
- Irish people’s past experience as emigrants.
A party which preys on disillusionment with the mainstream to fuel it’s nationalistic agenda, don’t we have one of those already?
You are soon right, FF and FFG do the Finnegans ball dance very well. Once they are out of power, they promise all the left wing promises, but 100 years has shown and proven, a soon as they get into power, they become the right wing conservatives every time…
The problem with Sinn Féin is they are against everything and for nothing.
The answer: Ireland does have a far-right party. It’s called Sinn Fein. Check out the qualifications that would have it immediately recognised as ‘far-right’ in any other European country. 1. Until 7 years ago, it was the political wing of an ultra-nationalist armed movement with an irredentist ideology of regaining ‘national territory’ by force. 2. It used death squads (of course, nobody called them that — that was a term reserved for the other side’s killers) to enforce its will on the rest of the people of the island. 3. Like any far-right party worthy of the name (“Nazi” was an abbreviation of Nazional-Sozialistischen) it peddles a brand of populism that passes for ‘socialism’ among the lazy media. 4. And like many current far-right movements in Europe, it has ‘cleaned up its act’ to some extent, standing for elections, disavowing violence etc.
Left wing nationalism is the type of nationalism favoured in oppressed nations. You have to understand that in their present form they emerged from a sectarian state in which they were voiceless (with the rest of the island, the ‘free’ part, dominated economically by their more powerful neighbours). They fought because they believed they would never be free unless the British Army left their country. It was never about killing unionists.
It’s not like the nationalism of the BNP or Golden Dawn or the Nazi party which says “We, the people of this country are better than all others.”
It simply says like Catalonian or Palestinian nationalism “We are are just as good as you and deserve all the rights that you have.”
Sinn Féin has never been a sectarian party or ethnically purist. Indeed, Seán Mac Stiofáin was chief of staff in the IRA and an english protestant. This inclusion stretches all the way back to Wolfe Tone. Unfortunately, some of the average guys operating on the streets were quite different in their views (the Kingsmill massacre is one example), but the leadership always did their utmost to steer the movement away from the path of catholic supremacism.
They don’t engage in any discrimination against emigrant groups. Irish republicanism never been about “keeping Ireland for the Irish”, it’s about giving the people who live on this island the ability to govern themselves without the influence of foreign governments.
While we’re checking out qualifications and pedigrees perhaps you’d take a look into FG, the Blueshirt party founded by “General” Eoin O’Duffy. An admirer of Mussolini who raised an Irish brigade to fight for Franco and also offered to fight for the nazis. Embarrassing, eh?
Sadly, the only Irish party that actually collaborated with the Nazis were Sinn Fein, with the IRA.
Colm, I accecpt what you say for yourself, but this is the same leadership who refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Republic (and still have only a qualified alligence to it), excused and stood by the IRA for decades (something the majority of Irish people did not do), and divide themselves between two states. Their platform promises remind me too much of Fianna Fail’s “all things to everybody” approach.
Sinn Fein are Frankfurt School Cultural Marxists.
Same reason there are more Catholics than any other religion? I.e. you can be centre without going out of your way too much and having to fight for a cause. The path of least resistance through life seems to appeal to the modern Irish – apart from the odd store-it -up sin of omission in voting no to a referendum for which you can receive absolution by acknowledging your sin at the next re-run.
I still feel pretty confident in my suspicions that Gangley and “Libertas” (or whatever else he’s calling it this week) are our most likely candidates for this role.
Was the Golden Dawn originally a secrect occult society ? They were creative eccentric and really believed in the supernatural …. Nothing like these brain dead looneys who obviously are desperate for attention … To them I say , bend over spread those buttocks and incert whit hot iron pokers and let them squeal like odious hogs !!!!
If there’s anything we need its a far left as Labour are still waiting to be given the go ahead since 1918
In Ireland we have seen the senseless destruction that this type of action generates,
Throwing stones, burning cars/houses, fighting with the police, generally causing chaos and disruption, to what end ? More austerity to pay for all the extra cost.
Look at the other article here on the journal and explain pease how extreme right thinking isn’t alive and well in ireland?
It’s nativity and head-in-the-sand thinking that the extreme right isn’t here. The official symbolism is missing, but the hatred towards foreigners, the jokes made about them, the claim they’re just spongers and all these comments are extreme right embedded in Irish thinking!
The other article on the journal? Aww no. You hardly expect me to read both of the articles that make up this website? (This one and the other one)
The article is not about extreme right thinking; it’s about far-right parties and the fact that they are not present in Ireland. There is a difference.
Brian: my comments are very relevant: there is no need for nazi parties as the extreme right is part of the mainstream thinking. Just look at all those likes in the article for those comments.
interesting article, was thinking about it awhile ago, being a foreigner working in Ireland. do foreigners really increase unemployment? I can’t say for sure. I work in the healthcare system, and the increase in foreigners are certainly because the locals are leaving and unwilling to work under HSE conditions, which foreigners being from usually worse off countries, would be willing to.
It seems we want change, and parties offer change in opposition, then do little to change things when elected.
I for one will vote for a new party that offers to implement changes promised, reform of government, reduceTDs, no pay for county counsellors, ie reduce the cost of government, then make the civil service work or replace them
have your say