March 26, 2024 - 7:00am
Anyone with an interest in European politics will have been struck by this weekend’s arresting images of an anti-immigration protest in Coolock, a working-class district of North Dublin, where masked youths on horseback led a large protest against the proposed settlement of migrants.
It is indeed ironic, as the political theorist Philip Cunliffe observed on X, that “after all the anti-Brexit hysteria pumped up by the Irish liberal intelligentsia […] it is in Ireland, and not in Britain, that the populist insurrection is really rumbling from the bottom-up.” But viewed from across the Irish Sea, what is striking is not just how similar to Britain the causes of discontent are, but also how differently the response manifests.
In Britain, populist discontent tends to coalesce around underperforming “tribunes of the plebs” such as Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson, with the aim of seizing control of the system and reforming it from within. This is an approach best articulated by Dominic Cummings, the limitations of which are exemplified by our current government.
In Ireland, by contrast, populist mobilisation has evolved a diametrically opposing strategy. Shut out of representation by Ireland’s political and media class, the mood of growing rebellion manifests in decentralised protests by individual communities. Instead of the unappealing thugs, born out of football hooliganism, who characterise British Right-wing street mobilisation, Ireland’s protests are overwhelmingly law-abiding family affairs, with the archetypal Irish “mammy” well at the forefront. Anxious attempts to characterise the protestors as part of a dangerous global far-Right appear increasingly unconvincing as a result.
Indeed, Ireland’s fledgling Right-wing parties are competing to win the public’s favour, chasing the angry mood rather than shaping it. The likeliest beneficiaries of the unrest may be independent candidates in mostly rural constituencies, a political outlet for discontent which Britain does not share.
While the lack of a popular figurehead means the nascent movement is difficult to decapitate, the competition to win its electoral favour means that aspiring populist leaders are likely to split their potential vote share in the coming local and general elections. This may cause its energy to dissipate — but by keeping it out of the Dáil, this dynamic may also keep the movement in the streets, with unpredictable effects.
Unlike Britain, the generally peaceful protests have been punctuated with occasional bursts of political violence, such as the dramatic Dublin riot last winter and the torching of proposed asylum centres, echoing the “burning the Big House” agrarian unrest of a century ago. Indeed, allusions to Ireland’s troubled history, like the terming of mass immigration as a “plantation”, abound in the nascent Irish Right-wing, drawing on a cultural repertoire of nationalist rebellion unavailable to similarly disaffected Britons.
Sinn Feín, once a beneficiary of such sentiment, now struggles to keep up, with its vote share dropping in recent polls: with 72% of its base supporting immigration restrictions, Sinn Feín voters are — to the apparent surprise of its socially liberal leadership — the most nationalist voter bloc in the country.
While Irish Right-wing activists are buoyant at the growing relevance of their new movement, the inability of Dublin’s political class to address the discontent will increase the pressure on Ireland’s fragile coalition government, whose unprepossessing new leader does not seem destined for a long term in office.
From a zero starting point, Ireland suddenly possesses Europe’s fastest-moving, if inchoate, populist insurgency, to the discomfort of its political class. Britain’s closest European neighbour reveals itself, once again, as an entirely different political universe.
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SubscribeIt’s very hard to see where a populist rebellion in Ireland can go though. Irish borders are utterly porous, particularly via Northern Ireland, and the bureaucracy and courts are determined that virtually nobody who claims asylum will be refused entry, properly checked, promptly processed, or deported. The political class is beginning to wake up to the anger, but even if immigration was stalled in the morning (which it won’t be) the numbers already in the country cannot be absorbed for many years and will inevitably be joined by family members. Far easier just to smear and ban dissent than to deal with the underlying causes.
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The problems will be exacerbated by the recent legal ruling by the Irish High Court that the U.K. is no longer a “safe country” due to the risk that a migrant may be sent to Rwanda.
It is presumably now illegal for Ireland to “facilitate” their immigrants crossing into NI or the wider U.K.
Presumably Mr Varadkar will have been delighted by the judgement.
As a Briton (like Saint Patrick himself) I an pleased that the Irish courts won’t be able to dump migrants across the border.
I believe cross-border smuggling in Ireland is a thing. Whatever the EU pretends.
Wasn’t St Patrick a ‘Roman’? From the original European ‘superstate’!
Perhaps our esteemed NGOs should set up modern day underground railroads to smuggle “asylum seekers” in Britain over to safety Eire. I’d be happy to contribute or even drive a bus.
A few points. First ireland has proportional representation and multi seat constituents so in theory we should elect more diverse voices than single seat constituencies than the Uk incliding “populist” and even “right wing voices”.
Maybe that will happen in the next election.
Another relevant point. Ireland hss welcomed many eastern european and english immigrants for years and it has gone very harmoniously. I would say the same about Brazilian and Pakistani people who come here on work visas and work in food processing. This is because they have joined the work force and the economy.
Our current protests are because the government want to house asylum seekers in hotels and built accomodation specifically for them. This is infuriating to working people who see their own children unable to afford housing locally and see their local economies degraded as tourists are replaced by asylum seekers.
The hotel gets a juicy government contract but the town dies a little.
So, basically, it’s economics Vs social engineering?
I wouldnt call it social enginering. I would say it is rapacious business practice facilitated by soft government money.
Maybe the other way around?
Not sure where “economics ” comes into it-just the usual grifters spotting an opportunity to leach off the Government purse.-or maybe that’s what passes for economics these days?
Agreed
Indeed, What makes the Irish political scene so different to that on the neighbouring island is proportional representation, and specifically the single transferable vote, which means that vote splitting, as it happens in UK elections, is far less of an issue.
This allows voters to take their chances with Independents / niche parties secure in the knowledge that, if that candidate doesn’t make it, their vote won’t be wasted but will transfer to their next preference. This weakens the power of the party machine and favours the bottom up type movement described.
Though how or if all that will influence the eventual outcome, we’ll have to wait and see
Proportional representation is neither here nor there when it’s effectively impossible to raise money for a nationwide political campaign, while the state lavishly funds the established political parties and the entire mainstream media. And even if independents won a majority in the Dail, it would be practically impossible for them to form a government. With taxpayers’ money, the political parties can always peel off enough independents to prop themselves up.
“…this is because they have joined the workforce and the economy.”
There’s a similar situation in the US. Since there’s almost nothing in the way of a safety net, it’s “work” or “starve in a tent”. Assimilation happens very quickly.
Since the adults are all working like bees there’s no choice but to send the kids to the local school. English language happens even more quickly.
This is probably why the places with the most new immigrants don’t seem to worry too much about immigration.
Laurence, im not sure that is still the case in the usa. Are they not filling up hotels there also now? I dont know why this is happening across the developed world. I think it is probably because of easy money from government contracts which short circuits the dynamic economies we have built up over generations but there could be other motivations from UN, WEF, and the other organisations who really showed their true nature during the so called “pandemic”
They treat asylum seekers differently than immigrants. And you’re right, that does cause problems.
Just a case of the usual government tin-eared flat-footedness, I would guess.
(I’m glad to hear that the Ukranians in Ireland got busy, instead of sitting around worrying. Better that way.)
For the first 20 years of its existence – up to the 2008 Crash perhaps – the peoples of the EU statelets could generally rub along ok with the New Order and distant Technocracy. But we then entered a second less prosperous Age when the bitter fruits of a Soviet style top down anti democratic System all came to roost and were unmasked. The EU’s Big Three unmandated ideological manias – uncontrolled mass migrations, Net Zero Pol Pot degrowth and suffocating Lawfare and Regulatory overload – are busy spreading their poison. The bill is in. The crude authoritarianism of the Lockdown Catastrophe tipped the people of Europe over the edge and into incipient rebellion. It takes many different forms – from a majority of England’s brave Brexit revolt to Dublin horsemen or Dutch farmers. But all have just cause and should not be dismissed as unthinking dangerous ‘populists’. This is a battle for democracy and real social justice. And still the CCP Zil Lane Elites, now addicted to coercion and openly impatient with their scummy cake-eating people, are not listening, not learning. So on we go to the messy Third Age.
You meant “EU Zil Lane Elites” ?
Correct P. CCP-style Zil Lane & Gosplan Diktatt-y Elites. A unique ultra bureaucratic culture and modus op fostered and centred in Brussels by the new EU. But one which still grips the failed discredited ruling establishment of our own sorry EU Legacy State.
What an absolutely disgraceful and shameless attempt to slur tens of millions of UK citizens who are apparently populist and supported causes like leaving the EU.
“Instead of the unappealing thugs, born out of football hooliganism, who characterise British Right-wing street mobilisation, Ireland’s protests are overwhelmingly law-abiding family affairs, with the archetypal Irish “mammy” well at the forefront.”
I don’t recall any great trouble during Brexit rallies. Nor were they all “right wing” or “far right”. Or anything to do with football thugs.
But no – we’re all somehow all worse than the noble Irish populists, who of course have no history of lawlesseness and political violence.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Brexit achieved peacefully and legally through the ballot box ?
The idea that people are “shut out” of the political system in Ireland which has a PR system, while they are not in the UK is ridiculous. UKIP got more total votes than the SNP in 2015 (3.88 million vs 1.45 million), yet only 1 MP vs 56 for the SNP.
Another ridiculous article from Aris. P45 long overdue.
I had to read it twice but I don’t think that is what Aris is saying. I think he is saying that RW street protests in Britain are only ever EDL type affairs – small numbers of men with shaven heads etc. Whereas in Ireland they tend to be more mixed and so less easy to pillory. The previous paragraph about how in Britain we have attempted to change the status quo through democratic means – the EU referendum and subsequent votes for the Tories (much good it has done us). Whereas in Ireland they have no political outlet at the moment so they are taking direct action. I don’t think he was equating leave voters (like myself) with skinheads.
I know. But he just can’t resist leaving in the slurs and smears. And vastly exaggerating the importance and influence of extremist nutters in the UK. And leaving the implication that there’s some link between those groups and the rest of us (there isn’t).
“They have no political outlet in Ireland” ???
What on earth is stopping them ?
Sinn Fein/IRA would also doubtless claim that they “had to use violence” as there was no political alternative. But funnily enough, there always was. Ireland had 80 MPs in Westminster up to 1922 and at times they held the balance of power. There were always political routes.
If they have no political outlet, it is because they have chosen not to. My guess is that they prefer demos and chaos. It’s likely there’s some cultural angle to this.
You’ve responded to your own complaint, then. Aris is clearly not talking about Brexit rallies – which as you say yourself were not ‘right wing’ anyway. He’s talking about – and he says it clearly – ‘right wing street mobilisations’, by which I’d presume he means the likes of the EDF and the NF.
The political system here in Ireland shuts people out by consensus. Every single one of the main parties, from Sinn Fein to the current coalition government, takes the same line on all the key issues. There is nowhere to go party-wise if you don’t like that line. Hence the street protests now.
Start a new party. Like was done in the UK.
I really don’t understand what’s so difficult about this. There’s surely no law against starting new parties, is there ?
If someone leaves a gaping gap in a business market, some smart start-up comes along to fill it.
If you don’t like the way it is, get off your backsides and do something and quit complaining.
If you actually read the article instead of just reacting to one comment, you would see that the number of new parties have indeed been started in Ireland. You seem to get very offended by Roussinos comments but many of our right-wing street protests have indeed in the past been groups of young men with shaven heads looking like thugs. In any cases it’s very easy for the establishment to dismiss these people in that way.
One would have to be particularly ‘thin skinned’ to perceive the article is having a ‘dig’ at the UK citizenry. As ‘thin skinned’ actually as the Irish normally are about perceived ‘slurs’.
Tolerance was the thing I really appreciated when living in the UK and missed the most when in a ‘fit of madness’ returned to Ireland.
I guess in the rush to embrace ‘victim’ status tolerance exists in neither country now.
Tragic really.
Ireland’s proportional voting system will also offer minority groups and independent candidates a greater opportunity than in the UK.
That has been a factor in Sinn Fein success in the last election.
It also meant that FF and FG were able to shut out SF despite it winning most votes.
“Unlike Britain, the generally peaceful protests…” sorry I seem to have missed the right-wing / populist stoked rioting and protesting; could you provide some examples?
Young, liberal Ireland has become extremely wealthy and influential thanks to globalisation. In the face of populist unrest they can either rethink the system that has made them comfortable, or they can begin to hate the lower orders. My money is on the latter. That’s one thing in the US, where Brooklyn and Ohio are far apart, but Irishtown and Ballsbridge are very close to each other, that would not go well.
Walking around Dublin you would not think it ‘ Young, liberal Ireland has become extremely wealthy and influential’…. Drugs openly traded on every corner , homeless filling the doorways, tents sprouting up everywhere. Ireland is a country living through a period of ‘kidology’ . Ireland has fine people , but too many for generations have been left behind and that is not going to change anytime soon. Take a walk down the river and see the new gleaming offices.. one street back is absolute poverty. Irish politicians should hang their heads in shame as they have a complete lack of awareness of the reality of daily life for many Dubliners.
If all the mainly American tech and service companies opted to return home, what is Ireland’s Plan B?
Well, signs of poverty and degradation are not new in Dublin, I remember the 80s. What is new is the affluent development, say around Grangegorman or Grand Canal Dock. How these two Irelands collide is very hard to predict.
Come off it, Aris, we’ve seen precious little “British Right-wing street mobilisation”. Virtually all the street mobilisation comes from the Left or from the imported, ethnic groups who don’t fit the Left-Right paradigm at all.
It’s a similar dynamic playing out nearly everywhere in western civilization. The cycle of revolution is that a ruling class loses touch with a significant portion of the populace and reaches a broad consensus behind policies that are widely disliked by the lower classes. For a time, the ordinary political dynamic of coalitions composed of various factions centered around issues or regional interests continues, but anger starts building under the surface and is reflected in decreasing faith in government in general.
The anger grows until people start protesting or electing radical leaders or otherwise visibly opposing the ruling class consensus. At that point, the ordinary political dynamic is somewhat or completely suspended because the anti-elite sentiment has drowned out everything else and the people begin to unite against all the ruling class, not just the other side of whatever coalition.
We’re in this middle part of the cycle where the ruling class begins to face real consequences and the public starts to rally behind disruptive protest movements and various flavors of revolutionary parties who compete for power in government. Now there are obstacles to the ruling class continuing their policies and they begin to feel the consequences themselves. Social malaise eats at economic prosperity. Governments face greater levels of crime and lower levels of cooperation from citizens.
As long as the anger keeps growing, the obstacles will get larger and harder to deal with until the situation breaks. One possibility is that the ruling class compromises with the people and cedes enough ground on contentious issues to reduce public anger and slowly resumes a more normal political dynamic with the anger slowly dissipating with occasional complications on issues where the ruling class is forced to consider public opinion for everything it does. Alternatively, the ruling class, if united enough, can begin enforcing doctrine in a more active way through propaganda, censorship, crackdowns on protesters, and the other usual tools of repression, which then leads to either a totalitarian style society or a violent conflict. At any point through this process, the ruling class is vulnerable to being completely ousted and possibly even destroyed if any candidate or reform faction comes to a command a dominant majority of public support in elections.
Look anywhere you want in Europe and the US. This is the new normal and it’s going to continue until either some resolution is reached probably through a slow and gradual slide away from globalism as the ruling class feels pressured to compromise in order to stave off the escalating consequences of ignoring the popular will, or some external event intervenes and radically changes the current geopolitical and economic environment.
One would be like to see articles that discuss whether “globalisation” – alone or together with other factors since the WEF admitted China as a member in the 1990’s – is indeed responsible for the divorce in western democracies, of the elected ruling class from us hoi polloi? If not, then what has caused the ruling class, to despise us hoi polloi, and if this perception is correct?
Cherubic youths on horseback. Maybe not. More like the EDL.
After Leo, the next casualty for the tumbril will be Justice Minister Helen MacEntee and her Hate Crime Bill.
Sinn Fein meanwhile flip flopping on immigration with the mainstream media in shock, still mouthing off about the far right.
This is accelerating rapidly.