One element not mentioned in this article is Irish emigration. James Joyce wrote “Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.” Many of it’s brightest left because of entrenched corruption which promoted the descendants of the original 1916 – 1922 revolutionaries in to a pernicious upper class. They now inhabit the three political parties dispensing largesse to their members. Another revolution is certainly overdue.
charlie martell
11 days ago
Wealth may be all around you in Ireland. But most people don’t feel it. Ordinary people, especially those wanting a house, or even trying to rent one are done for. Especially now they are invaded annually by countless illegal immigrants with no money, no education, no English.
It’s true the figures are there. But the US and soin the EU will have their say .
denz
11 days ago
I suspect the counting of immigrants in Ireland is as accurate there as it is here.
The estimates of EU citizens in UK was 3.3m, used for all those spurious studies to state the vast economic benefits of immigration
We issued 5.5m settled status visas and hundreds of thousands of surplus NI numbers each year post A10 accession. Utter joke.
Large scale immigration is the ultimate ponzi scheme.
If it is so positive economically why are we in UK paying higher taxes than at any time since 1950s.
UnHerd Reader
11 days ago
Many Irish were desperate to escape tradition and the Church and embrace a eurotrash identity, and they got their wish. The WEF apparatchiks who now run the country, run it like a Wuhan Virology Lab for social-engineering. They got rid of the Church and now are working to get rid of the Irish; to turn what had been a nation into a soulless Davos administrative region of deracinated serfs.
Dougie Undersub
11 days ago
So, Ireland fought a war to be free from British rule but are now quite comfortable being jointly ruled by the EU Commission and corporate America.
David McKee
12 days ago
There is one pertinent fact Tom, in his excellent piece, overlooks (but I’ll bet Trump doesn’t).
Ireland spends a whopping 0.2% of GDP on defence. This is why Ireland is still dependent on Britain for its defence. Ireland is still outside NATO, and still neutral – even after Sweden and Finland abandoned neutrality.
Whoever’s unlucky enough to win the Irish election, will have an eventful 2025 when dealing with the Americans.
Russian planes have been infringing Irish airspace and internet and other connective cables heading west from Ireland are at serious risk from Russian sabotage, none of which the country can respond to. The UK and US have picked up that tab for a while now so it would be nice if that surplus was used for self defence at last.
Oh how more infactual can that be
Think ICBM nuclear missiles housed in the bowels of a Nuclear powered Submarine
Take a wee look at the International waters that surround the UK and Ireland
Then think this . Submarine commander to weapons officer
LAUNCH
Everybody in America is proud of their Irish heritage. I’m sure that Trump will find an Irish great, great grandfather if he looks hard enough. It is all about getting back at the English for daring to make America into a colony.
Being Irish, I think, is about not being English. The only people who ‘love’ the English are those economic migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who know that the English will pay. Doesn’t this send a message? England could refuse to pay these migrants, refuse to give money to Wales and Scotland, have a UK-wide referendum to throw Wales and Scotland out of the UK. But they won’t. It’s just not English is it?
Question: in terms of people, what is the definition of being Irish? Do you have to be a resident, or born in Ireland, or have a grandparent who was born in Ireland or …?
Trump has property in Co Clare, but his father is from the Palatinate (even if born in the US; Trump’s grandmother was pregnant when she arrived from Germany) and his mother is from the Scottish islands. He’s one of the few US presidents with no connexion. In regard to the US in general, there is some residual anti-Irish sentiment there too, even if the Irish brand is popular.
As an American of Irish descent, I can say that while I’m not thrilled by the history of English oppression in Ireland, my love for Ireland is mostly independent from that history. Alas for some, the world hasn’t revolved around England’s axis for some time now.
As I observed above, Ireland can do nothing about its defence without re-negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty which still limits the size and strength of the Irish Defence Forces. If you want anyone to blame, try Winston Churchill.
Not really true. The treaty says Ireland must keep the size of its Army, Navy ect below a certain % of the British Army, there is plenty of room for an increase without breaking the agreed terms
We really do need a larger Navy to patrol our seas
Ah but Ireland has a Ace up it’s sleeve in the form of joining The BRI mechanism to follow with application for BRICS membership
Don’t reply what about The EU , NATO etc.
Why Hungary as a EU member heavily involved in BRI and at this moment in time constructing Europe,s largest EV Battery production facility will be opening soon
Along with the commencement of what shall be Europes largest EV production plant that is fully integrated into supply chains , Advanced Manufacturing and Green renewable energy for the production facility
And as for US , NATO and EU disapprovals Turkey as a NATO member with a critically strategic
US large Air force base and application to join the EU
Turkey is applying for BRICS membership
Oh how the sands of time and the so called ‘ World Order ‘ of the West
Are shifting as Wealth transfers from the old Colonial West to in particular China , India , S.E. Asia
And the Global south
1) Ireland pays next to zero for its military, leeching off the UK and US taxpayers.
2) Ireland has multiple hyper-rich U.S. firms which park their money there. This has the effect of multiplying Ireland’s GDP by about 1.5x times, but has little impact on the average Joe’s wallet.
Conclusion – Ireland isn’t that rich, and the money it has it has by sheltering under the military umbrella of countries that actually PAY to run and fund a military.
I’m sad to say you’re largely right Samuel, a lot of Irish happily see themselves as an EU enclave of Democrat America and largely hold the ignorant opinion of middle America that American coastal elites do.
The result is Ireland is a tax haven for multinational corporations while hitting small sole traders for 66% tax on every penny above €40,000 (44% tax, 7.5% USC, 13.5% VAT). We are an anti small business, pro mega corporation country whose inhabitants seem to have an unconscious obsession in being obsequious to foreign power.
“We are an anti small business, pro mega corporation country whose inhabitants seem to have an unconscious obsession in being obsequious to foreign power.” You might say exactly this about UK, but our News (ie propaganda) service sucks up to the US.
Absolutely correct
Irish neutrality is highly respected by all other Nations just as that of Switzerland is
Not to mention to Ireland,s provision of it’s Military resources to act as UN peace keepers but particularly so when it’s contributions are far beyond the call of duty but more importantly when their Peace keeping contributions in very dangerous Hot Spots is considerably higher and disproportionately so in comparison to other Nations far higher
In Summary a old Celtic saying
You shall find in me the best of friends
But then should you make me your enemy
Then you shall find that I am your worst possible enemy Ever
Just as an aside: I’d be interested in your view as I no longer live there :
From the outside it appears Ireland in recent years has adopted a more vocal foreign affairs position. (which is fine obvs) But historically Ireland has benefited hugely from its soft power. (Like Guinness , its loved by the left and the right ). A more assertive Ireland now shows visible support for Democrats, Palestine and no doubt other issues of the day . By definition , that means alienating the other side, so not everyone will love you in future , and that could affect “brand Ireland”. Just a thought.
The Irish use UN peacekeeping as a cash cow, rotating its military through the various peacekeeping duties as a salary top up, as the UN pay is very generous. As for ‘hot spots’, 200 Irish troops have just returned from 6 months with UNIFIL, tasked with enforcing the10km military exclusion zone along the Lebanon/Israel border. They spent their time ‘sheltering in protected areas’ utterly failing to do the job they were sent for.
(?) Funny you should mention Switzerland, since that country doesn’t subscribe to your and Chris’s reasoning at all. Military service for males is compulsory there. Declining to take sides in general conflicts and having the capacity to defend yourself are totally unrelated concepts, and declarations of ‘neutrality’ mean nothing if you can’t prevent aggressors from bullying you.
As you can see from this 2024 Military Strength Ranking…
…Switzerland places a respectable 43rd in the list of 145 countries ranked. If the ranking is accurate, neighbours like Czechia, Austria and Hungary would be foolhardy to tangle with Switzerland’s military–and even Germany, France and Italy would probably be very reluctant to try challenging the Swiss on their own mountainous terrain.
Yes, Ireland pays little for its military, but that is due to the conditions imposed by the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty of which Winston Churchill was particularly insistent to Michael Collins’ great chagrin. So this state will remain until Pat goes cap in hand to Whitehall to get permission address the situation.
And all so both economically and Military
Untill Ireland joined the EU
where it could veto anything
That the UK had proposed that
Inadvertently or not would result in Ireland yoked to chains of the Home Rule act whereby
Ireland became Independent but never quite so
EU membership finally cut those chains
Ireland got rich by outfoxing and being innovative and creative, when we got our independence from Britain in 1922 we were poor. Even after the Second World War supplies and food were rationed even years after the war ended. However due to the foresight and big picture thinking of Sean Lemass and FF we began to attract foreign investment as we had no capital base before then and no loathe scale indigenous industry that could sustain us so we played to our strengths, the only good thing the Brits gave us was the English language, we leveraged that, made third level education free, and used our quite progressive tax system to attract inward capital and industry. It’s like a lot of former British colonies, we got rich despite you, the British empire was an extractive one. Took all the good from colonies and put very little back. We were a big source of cheap labour for decades. However despite our huge economic growth we still decades behind in many important areas like transport, health. We don’t have a direct train link to the airport for example. And we’re building the worlds most expensive children’s hospital in the worst location for traffic congestion. And it’s expensive because it delays and cost overruns. So in areas of infrastructure we fall badly behind the UK. But I do sense a lot of envy and jealousy over our economic success, there is nothing we did that couldn’t be replicated elsewhere, so it was a matter of policy rather than luck that made us successful. Geography too. To the west of us is America and right across the Irish Sea is Britain the world’s two most advanced economies, with a shared language and similar cultural heritage, plus our political system is one of the most democratic in the world and representative. We were the first in Europe to ban smoking from the workplace, overwhelmingly voted for marriage equality.if anything, while other countries have gone increasingly to the right of the political spectrum we are turning left and more liberal. Luckily we don’t have a Farage or Le Pen or AfD type character or party in our politics and long may that continue. We’re far more tolerant and far more clued into the world than people give us credit for. For such a small island we punch above our weight.
J Bryant
12 days ago
I’ve come to view Tom McTague as one of the most astute journalists writing about UK and European politics. Kudos to Unherd for nabbing him.
Ha ha ha … another “John Bull’s Other Island” merchant.
Most British journos know more about Toremolinos than Ireland.
Once you read about “tax avoidance”‘, you know they have drunk the KoolAid.
Ireland has very vibrant world leading tech industries, software companies, pharma, financial services and agriculture. All of these companies employ hundreds of thousands of people.
20% of the current population was not born here. Employment has grown from just over 1 million to 2 million in the last 20 years. Emigration has been replaced by mass immigration to work in Ireland’s 21st Century industries.
All this bollix about shell companies and tax avoidance is just jealousy that 100 years after Ireland escaped from the dead hand of England we have left you behind in the dust.
Read this over again in five years time. Perhaps less.
Kiddo Cook
11 days ago
For all the eulogising and historic analogies, for me, the key extract is “…. the disdain for the common assumptions and prejudices of the ordinary voter, whether ove…..’. This continued inability to discern preference from prejudice is at the core of much of the culture wars, non-criminal crimes and stoked hatred between people. Few are prejudice but wholly human in wanting to feel comfortable with their surroundings and those with whom they share it. The use of this word is to echo the word ‘bigot’ from G. Brown the unelected PM simply because someone dared to disagree.
Mangle Tangle
11 days ago
I really like Ireland and get the point about gdp per cap, etc. but when visiting (from the UK) I don’t see it as ‘richer’ than the UK. It’s hardly Switzerland, where the difference is really marked.
I am fan too, I don’t like cliches but the people are very sociable. Their now sporting and cultural impacts over the last century and move away from Catholic Church suffocation are massive positives.
I think the middle classes there are richer than the ones here by virtue of even more expensive properties and I get the feeling their rural areas do better than ours overall. Horse racing is cash and asset rich industry is huge and a massive net export for example.
I think their poor people are every bit as poor as UK. 2k Euros per month to rent a property privately doesn’t sound all that cheap regardless of income.
How did Ireland get from James Joyce and Samuel Beckett to Roddy Doyle and Sally Rooney? Ireland is much less vibrant culturally than it once was. I think Catholic Church suffocation has been replaced by suffocation of a different kind.
You are singularly failing to take cognisance of the most important factors in measuring The Wealth of a Nation and before I start Tis not GDP as that a trick deployed by Neo Liberal colonialist Liberal Capitalism Powerfull and elite into tricking the Population into thinking they rich
Therefore let’s use by far the most appropriate which when deployed the Average citezens can instantly determine how wealthy they are but more importantly the Direction of the travel in comparison to others
1. PPP that is Pay parity purchasing power ( When you apply that Then China richer than America and Ireland No 1 in international league tables { UK No.57 )
2 Productivity if taken for the last 10 yrs
In Europe Ireland consistently the highest
Whilst UK Always the lowest
GDP is real. The issue you are observing in Ireland is foreign ownership of major corporate assets. Ireland’s GNP is some 20% lower than its GDP, because so much of its productive assets are owned by foreigners. GNP is what the Irish get to consume, not GDP.
China’s economic statistics are wholly fabricated. There is no conceivable way it is richer than the US. 45% of their GDP goes to investment, at least half of which is completely unnecessary and is just a ploy to maintain employment, and prevent municipal bankruptcy. Empty cities, and high speed rail lines that no one rides are not actually economic productivity.
China PPP GDP per capita – $26,310
U.S. PPP GDP per capita – $86,601
No one says that China is richer than the US. China has 4x the population so total PPP GDP might be a little larger, but that doesn’t make it “richer.”
You still have to adjust for the fact that China wastes a huge proportion of its GDP on non-productive investment, and selling exports at a loss. That doesn’t make Chinese people better off.
Also, China won’t be 4x the size of the US for very long. Leaked population figures have shown that China never had 1.4 B people. They’ve been lying about birth rates for 20 years. They probably peaked at under 1.3 B, and have been in population decline for at least 10 years. Check out Xi Fuxian’s work on estimating the real demographic picture in China. It’s catastrophic.
julianne kenny
11 days ago
Former Taoiseach Micheál Martin -of Fianna Fáil,not Fine Gael as stated in the article:) Some would quip an easy mistake to make today.
Prashant Kotak
11 days ago
It could be, at the next election in the UK we get something like Labour 200, Tories, 250, Reform around 100, Lib Dems around 100 (benefitting from extensive tactical voting and a good ground game despite being a political vacuum), Islamofacists a dozen, SNP a dozen. This would probably lead to another Labour government in precarious coalition with the LibDems, because I don’t think Reform are stupid enough to go into coalition with the Tories. This is predicated on one or more fratricidal changes of leadership in Labour (a la the Tories) because without that the current trajectory for Labour takes them below 100 seats by the time of the election.
Dennis Roberts
11 days ago
“Perhaps this is why Ireland’s political class is so admired by Britain’s lonely podcast centrists who spend their time lamenting the loss of the civilised pre-crash world in which they felt comfortable. Ireland, to these characters, remains recognisable: living proof that their world view is not out of date as they wander lonely in an England that is no longer home.”
Such people fail to realise that the civilised pre-crash world was built on the the miserable post-crash world the UK now is. I’m not so sure Ireland is the future, more like the UK of 20 years ago, with the appearance of wealth that will evaporate the moment something goes wrong.
AC Harper
11 days ago
“In the great globalised economy that had emerged from the ashes of the Cold War, Blair argued, Britain would become a “beacon” for the rest of the world to follow, combining the best of America’s economic dynamism with Europe’s social conscience. With the City of London as its beating heart, so the story went, Britain had all the ingredients for success in the 21st century: an open and flexible economy supported by a well-educated, liberal and tolerant people happy in their own multicultural skin.”
Ireland clearly has its own problems, but we now see that Starmer is the Son Of Blair.
Evan Heneghan
11 days ago
I think you’ve missed some of the most important aspects there. Irish voters are in open revolt against the ruling class yet have not been able to engineer any meaningful change at all in our political class’s policies.
Two doomed referendums, backed by every major party and NGO in the country were roundly defeated, leading to the resignation of the then Prime Minister and lots of promises about soul searching that have not resulted in any changes in politics whatsoever.
The ruling class in Ireland are currently ruling ruling with an iron fist, following proudly in the footsteps of the British and the Catholic Church. Our media, NGOs, and politicians are all in lockstep to deny any platform to the opinions of the majority on key issues such as immigration, climate, and trans rights, and we literally don’t have a conservative publication or party in our establishment.
What has happened however, and what seems to have been missed by the author, is the massive rise in independent candidates securing seats in last years local and European elections, and that trend looks likely to continue today. Independent Ireland, a loose coalition of rural representatives and candidates, look likely to be the third or fourth biggest party in Ireland going forward. The centre will hold for this election, but I believe the political landscape will finally break further right at the next election as Independent Ireland can no longer be ignored by the entire expert class.
As a conservative Yank, and Texan, I hope you’re correct. Personally, we greatly prefer visiting Ireland to visiting England. In fact the Irish we’ve met were far friendlier and seemingly closer to our political spirit than the Brits we’ve encountered on trips there.
John Tyler
11 days ago
The headline brings back the childhood memory of the history teacher referring to the revolting peasants of 1381. I think it was the only piece of humour in his repertoire.
RR RR
11 days ago
I didn’t know about the Harris incident until now.
Interesting as to how few politicians are at ease with ordinary folk where it isn’t scripted. Even Blair got caught out a couple of times.
Suppose that is where Major and Johnson were in their pomp – the one genuinely so, the latter a vey good actor/entertainer. Ashdown was another good operator in that sense.
The centrists will survive this time including the newly moved into that block, Sinn Fein, but next time it won’t be so easy.
I think this election isn’t reflecting well on the so called dynamo Simon Harris. But he was a bad choice for the job. He has no academic qualifications beyond his school Leaving Certificate, never held a proper job in his life and has not life experience worth recounting. This is showing up here. We are not yet at a stage where elections can be won on social media alone.
Malcolm Webb
11 days ago
I confess I got lost in this article. Ireland is richer but its prosperity is a fraud? I also think the political parallel you attempted to draw is incorrect. In the U.K. the Right lost the election due to the awfulness of the Tory leadership plus Woke Tories – resulting in a splitting of the right of centre vote. When the Right realigns itself it will sweep away this clearly incompetent Labour Government. The big question is, who will lead the right of centre realignment ? I suspect it will not be a Tory.. Reform will make huge inroads into Red Wall areas throughout this Parliament and will have to be accommodated in an electoral pact which could see it an equal partner, if not in control, after the next General Election .
The only route the Tories have back is by being modern-day conservatives. Not the mishmatch.
Firstly, they have to apologise for their pathetic performance post COVID – too much crap to mention.
Focus
1) A genuine industrial policy that works – they have to be statist as neo liberalism works for fewer and fewer people in modern democracies. Be honest that people need to move from Retail Roles to Social Roles in large numbers. Automation will kill some existing jobs.
2) People and Family Centric policies – improvements to child care as per social roles.
3) Dismiss woke bollocks entirely.
4) An immigration system fit for purpose – 200k max per annum (Net). The unis will have to make or break themselves. They need to go back to teaching basics anyway.
5) Energy security – drill ok not great but you can do but if reap the profits you pay more as a windfall.
Being honest, this is the stuff if Labour deliver on will get them a 2nd election.
Starmer may want to – some of the membership would hate the proposals,
An affordable supply of plentiful energy is the bedrock of economic growth. So Net Zero has to be scrapped. Onshore U.K. there are massive, globally significant, natural gas reserves which lie untapped thanks to woke misinformation and prejudice about the dangers of fracking. . That indigenous energy supply could be a cornerstone for revival – but not if it’s done by a state company – the expert oil and gas companies must be invited to do that. Frankly Government couldn’t run a whelk stall.
There aren’t massive reserves comparatively speaking and we can’t use equipment used elsewhere for the large part.
The economic ROI case is weak due the geological complexities and would require humongous subsidies.
The rural NIMBYs don’t want Wind Turbines or Pylons let alone this stuff which genuinely is environmentally bad.
I’d rather we didn’t drill more but due to geopolitical instability and the fact that we can create and sustain quality jobs as opposed to outsourcing them even more to dubiously governed gulf states means we have to.
We will have to agree to disagree. The shales haven’t been properly explored or appraised but the sheer volumes are huge. Much better to have indigenous production than imports and the Government needs to get smart in giving local communities a stake in success ( see Shetlands Islands Infrastructure fund) and indeed this time channel a part of tax receipts to a national wealth fund like Norway. Net Zero 2050 is a complete delusion – much better to have a sensible mixed energy plan which will not lead to the economic distress which NZ 2059 will.
Starmer remains a self-confessed globalist – prefers Davos to Westminster on his own admission pre-election. Sadly voters didn’t listen
Jeff Dudgeon
11 days ago
Great line: ‘Britain’s inheritance transferred to Ireland in some cosmic display of imperial karma’.
However this is a serious understatement: “Even Sinn Féin is now being accused of treachery among some of the more fringe nationalists for their attitude to immigration.”
SF is struggling to keep its coalition of young liberals and working class Dubs together by facing both ways on immigration, knowing that independents are gobbling up the disaffected and the ultra nationalists are at work. They are complaining vociferously about the ‘second plantation’.
Fine Gael may well be overtaken by the sensible (especially on the north) Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin while SF can probably stabilise its support given that, some day, oppositions have to win against complacent governments.
John Lamble
11 days ago
“Oirishness” of the Bidenesque variety is downright offensive in itself and leads to unpleasant behaviour to English people throughout the world. The whingeing myths about how terribly the English treated the Irish are 90% baloney but are still trotted out at the drop of a hat. After enjoying the TV series ‘Jack Taylor’ I read most of Ken Bruen’s novels (the Irish author from whom the TV stories are derived). His implied critique of Ireland embedded in his oevre is absolutely lethal and a wonderful corrective to any sentimentality one might feel for the ‘Emerald Isle’.
Chris Van Schoor
11 days ago
A good piece, but just a slight too much TDS..
Jonathan Story
11 days ago
No. I’m British. Ireland is very familiar to me. I feel quite at home there, even if I don’t live there. Anybody or anyone with half a brain could overtake the UK: its run by utilitarians, and the same loonies seem now to have overtaken Ireland.
Perhaps I’ve overlooked some undesirable quality of utilitarians, but on the face of it they seem quite a Good Thing to be, assuming the word to mean pragmatic, practical people (but without disdain for tradition, assuming they equally pragmatically understand voters’ dislike of needless change).
The opposite, to my mind, would be doctrinaire theory-ridden dogmatists, which is more like the Marxist Labour politicians currently making such a hash of everything in the UK!
The world is inherently unfair, you cant bend reality through ideology to make it fair. The modern Utilitarians believe in mass immigration, mass surveillence, UBI and they’re probably keen on assisted dying too, as a means to create their Utopia.
Utilitarianism is an assualt on democracy, they rely on NGOs to sidestep electoral concerns.
Gordon Arta
11 days ago
I doubt if Ireland has any effect on the English. Now they’ve stopped bombing children and pensioners the only time we think of them is when the families of the bombers demand ‘justice’ for the English having stopped them, or when their rugby team is playing.
Mickey The Bags
11 days ago
Irelands wealth is based on the country having positioned itself as a tax haven for the routing of (mainly) American multi national profits in order to avoid US taxes. There are also significant IT and pharmaceutical sectors which attract well paid workers mainly from abroad. These people can afford to pay the exorbitant rental and property prices that are the norm in places like Dublin. There has also been an influx of low paid workers from abroad who staff the service industries that cater to these people. These communities exist separately (for the most part) to mainstream Irish society. Anyone who has spent time in expat communities in Asia will recognise the model.
In terms of gdp therefore, the Irish figures are very high but include all this excess tax avoiding money en route to the US and elsewhere. Irish GNP provides a more realistic assessment of the wealth of the country and places the countrys wealth at an average EU level.
Trump has said that he is going to address the Irish facilitation of US tax avoidance. The EU also has the Irish tax regime in its sights. It’s safe to say that if either of those entities were to follow through on same, the Irish economy would be badly impacted quite quickly. And there is no plan b ie the domestic economy minus the multi nationals has not recovered post covid, probably post 2008. Emigration of young people is common with home ownership beyond the means of most.
Of course if you’re a 60 something year old who bought property when it was cheap and now rent it out to multi national or IT workers you’re on the pigs back.
Sound familiar ?
Patrick Keeney
11 days ago
“…an out-of-touch elite holding ordinary voters in contempt is now as common in Ireland as it is in England.”
The phenomenon of an out-of-touch elite holding ordinary voters in contempt is not unique to Ireland or England—it has become widespread across the OECD nations, where academics, political elites and decision-makers have become increasingly disconnected from the everyday lives and concerns of the general population.
Elites have developed a dangerous habit of heaping scorn and ridicule on dissenting voices, which they dismiss as uninformed, uneducated, unserious, and unworthy of consideration: see, e.g. Gordon Brown’s “bigoted woman,” Trudeau’s vilification of the truckers, or Joe Biden’s labelling of Trump supporters as “garbage.”
This elite disdain for the ordinary citizen has eroded public trust in democratic institutions and deepened divisions. It bodes ill.
Eamonn Toland
11 days ago
In Ireland it’s harder for politicians to distance themselves from the public due to a quirk in the electoral system. MPs (TDs) are elected in multi-seat constituencies with a Single Transferable Vote. You don’t put an X next to your favoured candidate. You rank them 1,2,3 etc. in order of preference. If your Number 1 choice polls poorly, they are eliminated and your vote transfers to your second preference.
This means every seat is ferociously contested. There is no such thing as a safe seat. A politician’s biggest rivals are people from his own party standing in the same 4 or 5 seat constituency and seeking first preferences from like-minded people. This forces politicians to canvass relentlessly in their constituency. The Love Actually scene where the PM knocks on doors actually happens. My father opened the door a few years ago to former Taoiseach Michael Martin.
Politicians who ignore weekly canvassing do so at their peril. A woman acknowledged as one of the most brilliant Ministers for Education in decades, Niamh Bhreathnach, was unceremoniously dumped from office when she prioritised the implementation of education reforms over knocking on local doors.
Graham Cunningham
10 days ago
“An Irish diplomatic friend once joked with me that the most jarring Englishman of all was not the bumptious ruling class toff of lore, but the self-hating liberal who adores everyone else’s quaint nationalism but his own.” So very true that is. To illustrate the mentality, just try to imagine its opposite….a self-image of England as “a land of poets and dreamers; a land of fiercely independent gritty people who know how to take their drink and dance a jig. And you just can’t help but love to hear them sing. Then there’s the food of course – the marvellous food. And so sexy; with that famous dress sense, such gorgeous specimens of masculinity and femininity the English are overall.” Does not compute does it but why is this so? If the English are pricked, do they not bleed? When they party do they not dance and sing…and cook great meals?
Mark Kennedy
10 days ago
The disdainful treatment of the care worker in the supermarket is outrageous, but such oblivious ‘elite’ contempt is not peculiar to Ireland. The self-referential nature of America’s own self-anointed elites’ response to the country’s recent presidential election continues to astonish. They acknowledge that some sort of revolution seems to be underway, but still presume that their own previous ignorance of its existence and genesis and the rest of the world’s form coextensive ‘epistemological deficiency’ sets.
How is it possible for presumably educated elites to be so insular and ill-informed that they’re months, sometimes years, behind what the average voter already knew? At the moment a puzzled chattering class is busy arriving at ‘insights’ long since internalized by delivery drivers, library assistants and Walmart cashiers–not that these plebeians can expect any acknowledgment of their prescience. Wisdom outside the silo has no existence for today’s chatterers (Heidegger was right: prattle DOES drive out discourse–and thought and self-awareness too, apparently), nor do the lives of the plebes.
Alas for contemptuous complacency (and how extraordinary that the elites have managed to lose sight of this as well), a plebe’s vote counts as much as their own. Straight to the ballot box, Ms. lowly, rebuffed care worker!
Matt M
9 days ago
“There are now senior political analysts speculating about a realignment in British politics in which Farage’s Reform leads a merger-acquisition of the Conservative Party after the next election to secure the premiership.“
This is entirely in the hands of Kemi Badenoch. If she can overshadow Farage, the the Tories will win back the Reform voters. If not, a reverse takeover and Farage as PM seems inevitable.
Martin M
12 days ago
Although I have some Irish heritage, I have been there only once, and then only for a week. However, I think the fact that Ireland’s Head of Government could be found in a supermarket brushing shoulders with “ordinary people” speaks well of the country. In most countries, such things would not happen (or if they appeared to, they would be entirely stage managed).
‘Harris replied, now getting frustrated. At that point, as the lady continued to complain, Harris simply offered his hand and turned away from her, only to then double back as if he realised he’d made a terrible mistake.’
Harris talked to ordinary people?
In Britain, of course, Keir Starmer simply turned his back on the grieving relatives in Hart Street in Southport, said not one word to them, and left after his 40 second photo op.
Yes, essentially Starmer gives all appearances of being another one of those politicians who seem to be unable to connect with people at a personal level. When I say people I mean the those of the electorate he is supposed to be representing, not the ones that help him to climb the slippery pole of career progression.
Bernard Brothman
10 days ago
It seems Ireland is well positioned; it attracts capital because of its tax policy, it does not have to spend much, really anything on defense, it can float merrily along and enjoy luxury beliefs.
It seems its foreign policy is to be pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. Here is a challenge for them – invite the Irish to rebuild Gaza.
Main Edition
US
FR
One element not mentioned in this article is Irish emigration. James Joyce wrote “Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.” Many of it’s brightest left because of entrenched corruption which promoted the descendants of the original 1916 – 1922 revolutionaries in to a pernicious upper class. They now inhabit the three political parties dispensing largesse to their members. Another revolution is certainly overdue.
Wealth may be all around you in Ireland. But most people don’t feel it. Ordinary people, especially those wanting a house, or even trying to rent one are done for. Especially now they are invaded annually by countless illegal immigrants with no money, no education, no English.
It’s true the figures are there. But the US and soin the EU will have their say .
I suspect the counting of immigrants in Ireland is as accurate there as it is here.
Honestly, even less so.
The estimates of EU citizens in UK was 3.3m, used for all those spurious studies to state the vast economic benefits of immigration
We issued 5.5m settled status visas and hundreds of thousands of surplus NI numbers each year post A10 accession. Utter joke.
Large scale immigration is the ultimate ponzi scheme.
If it is so positive economically why are we in UK paying higher taxes than at any time since 1950s.
Many Irish were desperate to escape tradition and the Church and embrace a eurotrash identity, and they got their wish. The WEF apparatchiks who now run the country, run it like a Wuhan Virology Lab for social-engineering. They got rid of the Church and now are working to get rid of the Irish; to turn what had been a nation into a soulless Davos administrative region of deracinated serfs.
So, Ireland fought a war to be free from British rule but are now quite comfortable being jointly ruled by the EU Commission and corporate America.
There is one pertinent fact Tom, in his excellent piece, overlooks (but I’ll bet Trump doesn’t).
Ireland spends a whopping 0.2% of GDP on defence. This is why Ireland is still dependent on Britain for its defence. Ireland is still outside NATO, and still neutral – even after Sweden and Finland abandoned neutrality.
Whoever’s unlucky enough to win the Irish election, will have an eventful 2025 when dealing with the Americans.
Ireland does have the advantage of being quite a long way from Russia though.
Russian planes have been infringing Irish airspace and internet and other connective cables heading west from Ireland are at serious risk from Russian sabotage, none of which the country can respond to. The UK and US have picked up that tab for a while now so it would be nice if that surplus was used for self defence at last.
Interesting grasp of geo-politics you have there!
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Oh how more infactual can that be
Think ICBM nuclear missiles housed in the bowels of a Nuclear powered Submarine
Take a wee look at the International waters that surround the UK and Ireland
Then think this . Submarine commander to weapons officer
LAUNCH
Everybody in America is proud of their Irish heritage. I’m sure that Trump will find an Irish great, great grandfather if he looks hard enough. It is all about getting back at the English for daring to make America into a colony.
Being Irish, I think, is about not being English. The only people who ‘love’ the English are those economic migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who know that the English will pay. Doesn’t this send a message? England could refuse to pay these migrants, refuse to give money to Wales and Scotland, have a UK-wide referendum to throw Wales and Scotland out of the UK. But they won’t. It’s just not English is it?
Question: in terms of people, what is the definition of being Irish? Do you have to be a resident, or born in Ireland, or have a grandparent who was born in Ireland or …?
Trump has property in Co Clare, but his father is from the Palatinate (even if born in the US; Trump’s grandmother was pregnant when she arrived from Germany) and his mother is from the Scottish islands. He’s one of the few US presidents with no connexion. In regard to the US in general, there is some residual anti-Irish sentiment there too, even if the Irish brand is popular.
I am American and there isnt even a hint of anti-Irish sentiment anywhere here but I do agree the Irish “brand” is popular.
As an American of Irish descent, I can say that while I’m not thrilled by the history of English oppression in Ireland, my love for Ireland is mostly independent from that history. Alas for some, the world hasn’t revolved around England’s axis for some time now.
As I observed above, Ireland can do nothing about its defence without re-negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty which still limits the size and strength of the Irish Defence Forces. If you want anyone to blame, try Winston Churchill.
Not really true. The treaty says Ireland must keep the size of its Army, Navy ect below a certain % of the British Army, there is plenty of room for an increase without breaking the agreed terms
We really do need a larger Navy to patrol our seas
Ah but Ireland has a Ace up it’s sleeve in the form of joining The BRI mechanism to follow with application for BRICS membership
Don’t reply what about The EU , NATO etc.
Why Hungary as a EU member heavily involved in BRI and at this moment in time constructing Europe,s largest EV Battery production facility will be opening soon
Along with the commencement of what shall be Europes largest EV production plant that is fully integrated into supply chains , Advanced Manufacturing and Green renewable energy for the production facility
And as for US , NATO and EU disapprovals Turkey as a NATO member with a critically strategic
US large Air force base and application to join the EU
Turkey is applying for BRICS membership
Oh how the sands of time and the so called ‘ World Order ‘ of the West
Are shifting as Wealth transfers from the old Colonial West to in particular China , India , S.E. Asia
And the Global south
May they live in ‘interesting times’!
1) Ireland pays next to zero for its military, leeching off the UK and US taxpayers.
2) Ireland has multiple hyper-rich U.S. firms which park their money there. This has the effect of multiplying Ireland’s GDP by about 1.5x times, but has little impact on the average Joe’s wallet.
Conclusion – Ireland isn’t that rich, and the money it has it has by sheltering under the military umbrella of countries that actually PAY to run and fund a military.
I’m sad to say you’re largely right Samuel, a lot of Irish happily see themselves as an EU enclave of Democrat America and largely hold the ignorant opinion of middle America that American coastal elites do.
The result is Ireland is a tax haven for multinational corporations while hitting small sole traders for 66% tax on every penny above €40,000 (44% tax, 7.5% USC, 13.5% VAT). We are an anti small business, pro mega corporation country whose inhabitants seem to have an unconscious obsession in being obsequious to foreign power.
“We are an anti small business, pro mega corporation country whose inhabitants seem to have an unconscious obsession in being obsequious to foreign power.” You might say exactly this about UK, but our News (ie propaganda) service sucks up to the US.
Ireland really doesn’t have enemies in the world, and is a neutral State. Why waste money on defence?
Absolutely correct
Irish neutrality is highly respected by all other Nations just as that of Switzerland is
Not to mention to Ireland,s provision of it’s Military resources to act as UN peace keepers but particularly so when it’s contributions are far beyond the call of duty but more importantly when their Peace keeping contributions in very dangerous Hot Spots is considerably higher and disproportionately so in comparison to other Nations far higher
In Summary a old Celtic saying
You shall find in me the best of friends
But then should you make me your enemy
Then you shall find that I am your worst possible enemy Ever
Just as an aside: I’d be interested in your view as I no longer live there :
From the outside it appears Ireland in recent years has adopted a more vocal foreign affairs position. (which is fine obvs) But historically Ireland has benefited hugely from its soft power. (Like Guinness , its loved by the left and the right ). A more assertive Ireland now shows visible support for Democrats, Palestine and no doubt other issues of the day . By definition , that means alienating the other side, so not everyone will love you in future , and that could affect “brand Ireland”. Just a thought.
The Irish use UN peacekeeping as a cash cow, rotating its military through the various peacekeeping duties as a salary top up, as the UN pay is very generous. As for ‘hot spots’, 200 Irish troops have just returned from 6 months with UNIFIL, tasked with enforcing the10km military exclusion zone along the Lebanon/Israel border. They spent their time ‘sheltering in protected areas’ utterly failing to do the job they were sent for.
(?) Funny you should mention Switzerland, since that country doesn’t subscribe to your and Chris’s reasoning at all. Military service for males is compulsory there. Declining to take sides in general conflicts and having the capacity to defend yourself are totally unrelated concepts, and declarations of ‘neutrality’ mean nothing if you can’t prevent aggressors from bullying you.
As you can see from this 2024 Military Strength Ranking…
https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php
…Switzerland places a respectable 43rd in the list of 145 countries ranked. If the ranking is accurate, neighbours like Czechia, Austria and Hungary would be foolhardy to tangle with Switzerland’s military–and even Germany, France and Italy would probably be very reluctant to try challenging the Swiss on their own mountainous terrain.
Israelis rightfully think Ireland is a hypocrite POS.
Yes, Ireland pays little for its military, but that is due to the conditions imposed by the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty of which Winston Churchill was particularly insistent to Michael Collins’ great chagrin. So this state will remain until Pat goes cap in hand to Whitehall to get permission address the situation.
And all so both economically and Military
Untill Ireland joined the EU
where it could veto anything
That the UK had proposed that
Inadvertently or not would result in Ireland yoked to chains of the Home Rule act whereby
Ireland became Independent but never quite so
EU membership finally cut those chains
Ireland is allowed by the EU to be Singapore-on-Liffey. Whilst the UK was in the EU, any attempt to be Singapore-on-Thames would never have flown.
I suspect that between them, the EU and Trump will soon be massively eroding the corporation tax benefits enjoyed by the Irish taxpayer.
Ireland got rich by outfoxing and being innovative and creative, when we got our independence from Britain in 1922 we were poor. Even after the Second World War supplies and food were rationed even years after the war ended. However due to the foresight and big picture thinking of Sean Lemass and FF we began to attract foreign investment as we had no capital base before then and no loathe scale indigenous industry that could sustain us so we played to our strengths, the only good thing the Brits gave us was the English language, we leveraged that, made third level education free, and used our quite progressive tax system to attract inward capital and industry. It’s like a lot of former British colonies, we got rich despite you, the British empire was an extractive one. Took all the good from colonies and put very little back. We were a big source of cheap labour for decades. However despite our huge economic growth we still decades behind in many important areas like transport, health. We don’t have a direct train link to the airport for example. And we’re building the worlds most expensive children’s hospital in the worst location for traffic congestion. And it’s expensive because it delays and cost overruns. So in areas of infrastructure we fall badly behind the UK. But I do sense a lot of envy and jealousy over our economic success, there is nothing we did that couldn’t be replicated elsewhere, so it was a matter of policy rather than luck that made us successful. Geography too. To the west of us is America and right across the Irish Sea is Britain the world’s two most advanced economies, with a shared language and similar cultural heritage, plus our political system is one of the most democratic in the world and representative. We were the first in Europe to ban smoking from the workplace, overwhelmingly voted for marriage equality.if anything, while other countries have gone increasingly to the right of the political spectrum we are turning left and more liberal. Luckily we don’t have a Farage or Le Pen or AfD type character or party in our politics and long may that continue. We’re far more tolerant and far more clued into the world than people give us credit for. For such a small island we punch above our weight.
I’ve come to view Tom McTague as one of the most astute journalists writing about UK and European politics. Kudos to Unherd for nabbing him.
Ha ha ha … another “John Bull’s Other Island” merchant.
Most British journos know more about Toremolinos than Ireland.
Once you read about “tax avoidance”‘, you know they have drunk the KoolAid.
Ireland has very vibrant world leading tech industries, software companies, pharma, financial services and agriculture. All of these companies employ hundreds of thousands of people.
20% of the current population was not born here. Employment has grown from just over 1 million to 2 million in the last 20 years. Emigration has been replaced by mass immigration to work in Ireland’s 21st Century industries.
All this bollix about shell companies and tax avoidance is just jealousy that 100 years after Ireland escaped from the dead hand of England we have left you behind in the dust.
Pathetic.
Read this over again in five years time. Perhaps less.
For all the eulogising and historic analogies, for me, the key extract is “…. the disdain for the common assumptions and prejudices of the ordinary voter, whether ove…..’. This continued inability to discern preference from prejudice is at the core of much of the culture wars, non-criminal crimes and stoked hatred between people. Few are prejudice but wholly human in wanting to feel comfortable with their surroundings and those with whom they share it. The use of this word is to echo the word ‘bigot’ from G. Brown the unelected PM simply because someone dared to disagree.
I really like Ireland and get the point about gdp per cap, etc. but when visiting (from the UK) I don’t see it as ‘richer’ than the UK. It’s hardly Switzerland, where the difference is really marked.
I am fan too, I don’t like cliches but the people are very sociable. Their now sporting and cultural impacts over the last century and move away from Catholic Church suffocation are massive positives.
I think the middle classes there are richer than the ones here by virtue of even more expensive properties and I get the feeling their rural areas do better than ours overall. Horse racing is cash and asset rich industry is huge and a massive net export for example.
I think their poor people are every bit as poor as UK. 2k Euros per month to rent a property privately doesn’t sound all that cheap regardless of income.
How did Ireland get from James Joyce and Samuel Beckett to Roddy Doyle and Sally Rooney? Ireland is much less vibrant culturally than it once was. I think Catholic Church suffocation has been replaced by suffocation of a different kind.
Everywhere is being suffocated in that sense
You are singularly failing to take cognisance of the most important factors in measuring The Wealth of a Nation and before I start Tis not GDP as that a trick deployed by Neo Liberal colonialist Liberal Capitalism Powerfull and elite into tricking the Population into thinking they rich
Therefore let’s use by far the most appropriate which when deployed the Average citezens can instantly determine how wealthy they are but more importantly the Direction of the travel in comparison to others
1. PPP that is Pay parity purchasing power ( When you apply that Then China richer than America and Ireland No 1 in international league tables { UK No.57 )
2 Productivity if taken for the last 10 yrs
In Europe Ireland consistently the highest
Whilst UK Always the lowest
GDP is real. The issue you are observing in Ireland is foreign ownership of major corporate assets. Ireland’s GNP is some 20% lower than its GDP, because so much of its productive assets are owned by foreigners. GNP is what the Irish get to consume, not GDP.
China’s economic statistics are wholly fabricated. There is no conceivable way it is richer than the US. 45% of their GDP goes to investment, at least half of which is completely unnecessary and is just a ploy to maintain employment, and prevent municipal bankruptcy. Empty cities, and high speed rail lines that no one rides are not actually economic productivity.
China PPP GDP per capita – $26,310
U.S. PPP GDP per capita – $86,601
No one says that China is richer than the US. China has 4x the population so total PPP GDP might be a little larger, but that doesn’t make it “richer.”
You still have to adjust for the fact that China wastes a huge proportion of its GDP on non-productive investment, and selling exports at a loss. That doesn’t make Chinese people better off.
Also, China won’t be 4x the size of the US for very long. Leaked population figures have shown that China never had 1.4 B people. They’ve been lying about birth rates for 20 years. They probably peaked at under 1.3 B, and have been in population decline for at least 10 years. Check out Xi Fuxian’s work on estimating the real demographic picture in China. It’s catastrophic.
Former Taoiseach Micheál Martin -of Fianna Fáil,not Fine Gael as stated in the article:) Some would quip an easy mistake to make today.
It could be, at the next election in the UK we get something like Labour 200, Tories, 250, Reform around 100, Lib Dems around 100 (benefitting from extensive tactical voting and a good ground game despite being a political vacuum), Islamofacists a dozen, SNP a dozen. This would probably lead to another Labour government in precarious coalition with the LibDems, because I don’t think Reform are stupid enough to go into coalition with the Tories. This is predicated on one or more fratricidal changes of leadership in Labour (a la the Tories) because without that the current trajectory for Labour takes them below 100 seats by the time of the election.
“Perhaps this is why Ireland’s political class is so admired by Britain’s lonely podcast centrists who spend their time lamenting the loss of the civilised pre-crash world in which they felt comfortable. Ireland, to these characters, remains recognisable: living proof that their world view is not out of date as they wander lonely in an England that is no longer home.”
Such people fail to realise that the civilised pre-crash world was built on the the miserable post-crash world the UK now is. I’m not so sure Ireland is the future, more like the UK of 20 years ago, with the appearance of wealth that will evaporate the moment something goes wrong.
Ireland clearly has its own problems, but we now see that Starmer is the Son Of Blair.
I think you’ve missed some of the most important aspects there. Irish voters are in open revolt against the ruling class yet have not been able to engineer any meaningful change at all in our political class’s policies.
Two doomed referendums, backed by every major party and NGO in the country were roundly defeated, leading to the resignation of the then Prime Minister and lots of promises about soul searching that have not resulted in any changes in politics whatsoever.
The ruling class in Ireland are currently ruling ruling with an iron fist, following proudly in the footsteps of the British and the Catholic Church. Our media, NGOs, and politicians are all in lockstep to deny any platform to the opinions of the majority on key issues such as immigration, climate, and trans rights, and we literally don’t have a conservative publication or party in our establishment.
What has happened however, and what seems to have been missed by the author, is the massive rise in independent candidates securing seats in last years local and European elections, and that trend looks likely to continue today. Independent Ireland, a loose coalition of rural representatives and candidates, look likely to be the third or fourth biggest party in Ireland going forward. The centre will hold for this election, but I believe the political landscape will finally break further right at the next election as Independent Ireland can no longer be ignored by the entire expert class.
As a conservative Yank, and Texan, I hope you’re correct. Personally, we greatly prefer visiting Ireland to visiting England. In fact the Irish we’ve met were far friendlier and seemingly closer to our political spirit than the Brits we’ve encountered on trips there.
The headline brings back the childhood memory of the history teacher referring to the revolting peasants of 1381. I think it was the only piece of humour in his repertoire.
I didn’t know about the Harris incident until now.
Interesting as to how few politicians are at ease with ordinary folk where it isn’t scripted. Even Blair got caught out a couple of times.
Suppose that is where Major and Johnson were in their pomp – the one genuinely so, the latter a vey good actor/entertainer. Ashdown was another good operator in that sense.
The centrists will survive this time including the newly moved into that block, Sinn Fein, but next time it won’t be so easy.
I think this election isn’t reflecting well on the so called dynamo Simon Harris. But he was a bad choice for the job. He has no academic qualifications beyond his school Leaving Certificate, never held a proper job in his life and has not life experience worth recounting. This is showing up here. We are not yet at a stage where elections can be won on social media alone.
I confess I got lost in this article. Ireland is richer but its prosperity is a fraud? I also think the political parallel you attempted to draw is incorrect. In the U.K. the Right lost the election due to the awfulness of the Tory leadership plus Woke Tories – resulting in a splitting of the right of centre vote. When the Right realigns itself it will sweep away this clearly incompetent Labour Government. The big question is, who will lead the right of centre realignment ? I suspect it will not be a Tory.. Reform will make huge inroads into Red Wall areas throughout this Parliament and will have to be accommodated in an electoral pact which could see it an equal partner, if not in control, after the next General Election .
The only route the Tories have back is by being modern-day conservatives. Not the mishmatch.
Firstly, they have to apologise for their pathetic performance post COVID – too much crap to mention.
Focus
1) A genuine industrial policy that works – they have to be statist as neo liberalism works for fewer and fewer people in modern democracies. Be honest that people need to move from Retail Roles to Social Roles in large numbers. Automation will kill some existing jobs.
2) People and Family Centric policies – improvements to child care as per social roles.
3) Dismiss woke bollocks entirely.
4) An immigration system fit for purpose – 200k max per annum (Net). The unis will have to make or break themselves. They need to go back to teaching basics anyway.
5) Energy security – drill ok not great but you can do but if reap the profits you pay more as a windfall.
Being honest, this is the stuff if Labour deliver on will get them a 2nd election.
Starmer may want to – some of the membership would hate the proposals,
An affordable supply of plentiful energy is the bedrock of economic growth. So Net Zero has to be scrapped. Onshore U.K. there are massive, globally significant, natural gas reserves which lie untapped thanks to woke misinformation and prejudice about the dangers of fracking. . That indigenous energy supply could be a cornerstone for revival – but not if it’s done by a state company – the expert oil and gas companies must be invited to do that. Frankly Government couldn’t run a whelk stall.
There aren’t massive reserves comparatively speaking and we can’t use equipment used elsewhere for the large part.
The economic ROI case is weak due the geological complexities and would require humongous subsidies.
The rural NIMBYs don’t want Wind Turbines or Pylons let alone this stuff which genuinely is environmentally bad.
I’d rather we didn’t drill more but due to geopolitical instability and the fact that we can create and sustain quality jobs as opposed to outsourcing them even more to dubiously governed gulf states means we have to.
We will have to agree to disagree. The shales haven’t been properly explored or appraised but the sheer volumes are huge. Much better to have indigenous production than imports and the Government needs to get smart in giving local communities a stake in success ( see Shetlands Islands Infrastructure fund) and indeed this time channel a part of tax receipts to a national wealth fund like Norway. Net Zero 2050 is a complete delusion – much better to have a sensible mixed energy plan which will not lead to the economic distress which NZ 2059 will.
Starmer remains a self-confessed globalist – prefers Davos to Westminster on his own admission pre-election. Sadly voters didn’t listen
Great line: ‘Britain’s inheritance transferred to Ireland in some cosmic display of imperial karma’.
However this is a serious understatement: “Even Sinn Féin is now being accused of treachery among some of the more fringe nationalists for their attitude to immigration.”
SF is struggling to keep its coalition of young liberals and working class Dubs together by facing both ways on immigration, knowing that independents are gobbling up the disaffected and the ultra nationalists are at work. They are complaining vociferously about the ‘second plantation’.
Fine Gael may well be overtaken by the sensible (especially on the north) Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin while SF can probably stabilise its support given that, some day, oppositions have to win against complacent governments.
“Oirishness” of the Bidenesque variety is downright offensive in itself and leads to unpleasant behaviour to English people throughout the world. The whingeing myths about how terribly the English treated the Irish are 90% baloney but are still trotted out at the drop of a hat. After enjoying the TV series ‘Jack Taylor’ I read most of Ken Bruen’s novels (the Irish author from whom the TV stories are derived). His implied critique of Ireland embedded in his oevre is absolutely lethal and a wonderful corrective to any sentimentality one might feel for the ‘Emerald Isle’.
A good piece, but just a slight too much TDS..
No. I’m British. Ireland is very familiar to me. I feel quite at home there, even if I don’t live there. Anybody or anyone with half a brain could overtake the UK: its run by utilitarians, and the same loonies seem now to have overtaken Ireland.
Perhaps I’ve overlooked some undesirable quality of utilitarians, but on the face of it they seem quite a Good Thing to be, assuming the word to mean pragmatic, practical people (but without disdain for tradition, assuming they equally pragmatically understand voters’ dislike of needless change).
The opposite, to my mind, would be doctrinaire theory-ridden dogmatists, which is more like the Marxist Labour politicians currently making such a hash of everything in the UK!
The world is inherently unfair, you cant bend reality through ideology to make it fair. The modern Utilitarians believe in mass immigration, mass surveillence, UBI and they’re probably keen on assisted dying too, as a means to create their Utopia.
Utilitarianism is an assualt on democracy, they rely on NGOs to sidestep electoral concerns.
I doubt if Ireland has any effect on the English. Now they’ve stopped bombing children and pensioners the only time we think of them is when the families of the bombers demand ‘justice’ for the English having stopped them, or when their rugby team is playing.
Irelands wealth is based on the country having positioned itself as a tax haven for the routing of (mainly) American multi national profits in order to avoid US taxes. There are also significant IT and pharmaceutical sectors which attract well paid workers mainly from abroad. These people can afford to pay the exorbitant rental and property prices that are the norm in places like Dublin. There has also been an influx of low paid workers from abroad who staff the service industries that cater to these people. These communities exist separately (for the most part) to mainstream Irish society. Anyone who has spent time in expat communities in Asia will recognise the model.
In terms of gdp therefore, the Irish figures are very high but include all this excess tax avoiding money en route to the US and elsewhere. Irish GNP provides a more realistic assessment of the wealth of the country and places the countrys wealth at an average EU level.
Trump has said that he is going to address the Irish facilitation of US tax avoidance. The EU also has the Irish tax regime in its sights. It’s safe to say that if either of those entities were to follow through on same, the Irish economy would be badly impacted quite quickly. And there is no plan b ie the domestic economy minus the multi nationals has not recovered post covid, probably post 2008. Emigration of young people is common with home ownership beyond the means of most.
Of course if you’re a 60 something year old who bought property when it was cheap and now rent it out to multi national or IT workers you’re on the pigs back.
Sound familiar ?
“…an out-of-touch elite holding ordinary voters in contempt is now as common in Ireland as it is in England.”
The phenomenon of an out-of-touch elite holding ordinary voters in contempt is not unique to Ireland or England—it has become widespread across the OECD nations, where academics, political elites and decision-makers have become increasingly disconnected from the everyday lives and concerns of the general population.
Elites have developed a dangerous habit of heaping scorn and ridicule on dissenting voices, which they dismiss as uninformed, uneducated, unserious, and unworthy of consideration: see, e.g. Gordon Brown’s “bigoted woman,” Trudeau’s vilification of the truckers, or Joe Biden’s labelling of Trump supporters as “garbage.”
This elite disdain for the ordinary citizen has eroded public trust in democratic institutions and deepened divisions. It bodes ill.
In Ireland it’s harder for politicians to distance themselves from the public due to a quirk in the electoral system. MPs (TDs) are elected in multi-seat constituencies with a Single Transferable Vote. You don’t put an X next to your favoured candidate. You rank them 1,2,3 etc. in order of preference. If your Number 1 choice polls poorly, they are eliminated and your vote transfers to your second preference.
This means every seat is ferociously contested. There is no such thing as a safe seat. A politician’s biggest rivals are people from his own party standing in the same 4 or 5 seat constituency and seeking first preferences from like-minded people. This forces politicians to canvass relentlessly in their constituency. The Love Actually scene where the PM knocks on doors actually happens. My father opened the door a few years ago to former Taoiseach Michael Martin.
Politicians who ignore weekly canvassing do so at their peril. A woman acknowledged as one of the most brilliant Ministers for Education in decades, Niamh Bhreathnach, was unceremoniously dumped from office when she prioritised the implementation of education reforms over knocking on local doors.
“An Irish diplomatic friend once joked with me that the most jarring Englishman of all was not the bumptious ruling class toff of lore, but the self-hating liberal who adores everyone else’s quaint nationalism but his own.” So very true that is. To illustrate the mentality, just try to imagine its opposite….a self-image of England as “a land of poets and dreamers; a land of fiercely independent gritty people who know how to take their drink and dance a jig. And you just can’t help but love to hear them sing. Then there’s the food of course – the marvellous food. And so sexy; with that famous dress sense, such gorgeous specimens of masculinity and femininity the English are overall.” Does not compute does it but why is this so? If the English are pricked, do they not bleed? When they party do they not dance and sing…and cook great meals?
The disdainful treatment of the care worker in the supermarket is outrageous, but such oblivious ‘elite’ contempt is not peculiar to Ireland. The self-referential nature of America’s own self-anointed elites’ response to the country’s recent presidential election continues to astonish. They acknowledge that some sort of revolution seems to be underway, but still presume that their own previous ignorance of its existence and genesis and the rest of the world’s form coextensive ‘epistemological deficiency’ sets.
How is it possible for presumably educated elites to be so insular and ill-informed that they’re months, sometimes years, behind what the average voter already knew? At the moment a puzzled chattering class is busy arriving at ‘insights’ long since internalized by delivery drivers, library assistants and Walmart cashiers–not that these plebeians can expect any acknowledgment of their prescience. Wisdom outside the silo has no existence for today’s chatterers (Heidegger was right: prattle DOES drive out discourse–and thought and self-awareness too, apparently), nor do the lives of the plebes.
Alas for contemptuous complacency (and how extraordinary that the elites have managed to lose sight of this as well), a plebe’s vote counts as much as their own. Straight to the ballot box, Ms. lowly, rebuffed care worker!
“There are now senior political analysts speculating about a realignment in British politics in which Farage’s Reform leads a merger-acquisition of the Conservative Party after the next election to secure the premiership.“
This is entirely in the hands of Kemi Badenoch. If she can overshadow Farage, the the Tories will win back the Reform voters. If not, a reverse takeover and Farage as PM seems inevitable.
Although I have some Irish heritage, I have been there only once, and then only for a week. However, I think the fact that Ireland’s Head of Government could be found in a supermarket brushing shoulders with “ordinary people” speaks well of the country. In most countries, such things would not happen (or if they appeared to, they would be entirely stage managed).
It was just an electioneering stunt that badly backfired, just as it did for Gordon Brown after visiting a northern council estate in 2010.
It was, badly.
‘Harris replied, now getting frustrated. At that point, as the lady continued to complain, Harris simply offered his hand and turned away from her, only to then double back as if he realised he’d made a terrible mistake.’
Harris talked to ordinary people?
In Britain, of course, Keir Starmer simply turned his back on the grieving relatives in Hart Street in Southport, said not one word to them, and left after his 40 second photo op.
Yes, essentially Starmer gives all appearances of being another one of those politicians who seem to be unable to connect with people at a personal level. When I say people I mean the those of the electorate he is supposed to be representing, not the ones that help him to climb the slippery pole of career progression.
It seems Ireland is well positioned; it attracts capital because of its tax policy, it does not have to spend much, really anything on defense, it can float merrily along and enjoy luxury beliefs.
It seems its foreign policy is to be pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. Here is a challenge for them – invite the Irish to rebuild Gaza.