Ireland's new populism

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2024 on Sunday 20 October at Church House, Westminster.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

In the past year, Irish streets have erupted in angry protest and riots. The issue of immigration – particularly the housing of asylum seekers – has caused mass unrest, catching Ireland’s political elite unawares. With the next election in the Republic expected before March 2025, many are discussing the rise of ‘Irish populism’ as the future of politics.

Immigration, and the crisis in housing, might be the biggest issue dividing Ireland’s politicians and the public, but it’s not the only one. The shock result of the double referendum in March – in which voters rejected changes to the constitution to reframe the role of women and the family – revealed an anger with political parties that had been brewing for some time. While the usual arguments were made about voters being ‘confused’, many saw the bungled referendums as an example of how out of touch the Irish elites had become, particularly on issues of gender.

Until recently, Sinn Féin had been talked up as the populist insurgent in any upcoming election in the Republic – having won its best result since 1923 in the 2020 election. But even their relative successes in the north haven’t inspired voters south of the border, with the party collapsing in local and European elections down to 12 per cent of the vote. Caught flat-footed by the spiraling immigration crisis, many working-class voters abandoned the party, accusing it of not taking a tough enough line on immigration, flip-flopping on its EU-critical approach, for originally supporting the draconian hate-crime legislation (while withdrawing support pre-election) and backing the unpopular family referendums. Sinn Féin is also losing votes to a new left-leaning republican party – Aontú – which claims to ‘have the backbone to stand up, without fear’ for ‘respectful opposition’.

Upheaval is certainly the order of the day in Irish politics – with commentators decrying ‘toxic’ populism, ‘penal populism’ and ‘fiscal populism’. But who are the new populists?

A number of new parties have risen to prominence, including the Eurosceptic Irish Freedom Party and the anti-immigration National Party. Both are right wing, immigration-critical, anti-woke but not, as yet, receiving large-scale support. Then there’s the Farmers Alliance, in opposition to Ireland’s proposed green policies squeezing agriculture – including plans to cull 200,000 cows.

Individuals have also stood on independent tickets – in one EU constituency alone, there were 10 different anti-immigration candidates. But despite a lack of support electorally, Irish headlines have been dominated by discussion – and panic – about the rise of Irish populism.

Websites like Gript have likewise captured a dissident sentiment, expressing the disquiet with issues, from free speech to the gender wars, housing and immigration to alleged corruption during the Lockdown years. While some are keen to differentiate political protest from the riots and arson attempts outside asylum housing, others use the p-word to paint all populist expression with the same brush.

Are we witnessing the rise of populism in Ireland? Or are things more complicated? Who are the Irish populists and, with little electoral success, just how popular are they?

SPEAKERS
Dr Ray Bassett
writer and commentator; author, The Road to Good Friday and Ireland and the EU, Post Brexit; former Irish ambassador; Poynter fellow in Journalism, Yale University

Fatima Gunning
reporter, Gript Media

Kevin Meagher
columnist, Irish Post; author, A United Ireland: Why unification is inevitable and how it will come about; former ministerial special adviser, Labour

John O’Brien
head of communications, MCC Brussels

CHAIR
Kevin Rooney
history and politics teacher; editor, irishborderpoll.com; convenor, AoI Education Forum; co-author, The Blood Stained Poppy