The Far Right in Ireland and Europe

Antiimmigrant rioters rampaged through central Dublin on Thursday 23 November after three young children and an adult female were stabbed outside a school in the capital that afternoon.The violence began after rumours circulated on social media that a foreign national was responsible for the attack. Authorities later confirmed the foreign-born assailant was an Irish citizen.

Up to 500 people looted shops, set fire to vehicles and threw rocks at crowd-control officers equipped with helmets and shields. These scenes prompted several protests, condemning the attacks and racist rhetoric that fuelled them. Many demonstrators said the rioters simply wanted to cause chaos and not protect the country's way of life. Ireland's Taoiseach, criticised the rioters.

'These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland, they did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people, they did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped. They did so because they are filled with hate, they love violence, they love chaos and they love causing pain to others.'

The Irish Sunday Times, told Euronews: 'The far-right is a very small movement in Ireland however, they are feeding into concerns about the immigration system in Ireland, the impact that large numbers of migrants are having on Irish society which is putting stress on the housing sector so they are capitalising on this issue.'

The population of Ireland rose from 3.9 million in 2002 to more than 5.1 million in 2022. One in five Irish residents since 1998 was born abroad. 13,000 people are declared homeless. According to the Department of Housing, this is the highest number of homeless individuals since current records began in 2014.

74,000 people have filed for asylum in Ireland, 49,227 of them are Ukrainians. A year ago, the total number was 7,500. 

The Irish Freedom Party, a far-right party has no elected representatives in Irish parliament but has concentrated on anti-refugee sentiment which has exploited a devasting housing crisis, believe the Government’s system of reckless open borders allows a large number of unvetted males of unknown origin into the Country has led to an increase, as it has in all countries be it Sweden, France and Germany, an increase in violence and sexual assault.  

Now, anti-refugee sentiment has exploded amid a devastating housing crisis and rising rents, made worse by the destabilising effects of public sector cuts and stagnant wages.

However, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation body (IBEC) maintains immigrants are needed, otherwise, certain sectors of the economy will collapse

South of Brussels, a crowd gathered on September 2nd in a parish hall to drink champagne and promote the dismemberment of Belgium. The meeting was organised by Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), a right-wing party that rails against such threats to the Flemish way of life as Islam, immigration and the French language. The town is in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium), but French-speakers have been moving in for decades and are now the majority. The only way to stop the rot, is for Flanders, to declare independence.

Parochialism. People have a right 'to be the boss in their own country', the crowd applauds. Vlaams Belang is Belgium’s most popular party, with an average of 22% support in recent polling, it should triumph in simultaneous elections next year for the national, European and regional parliaments. Other Belgian parties have hitherto declared it too extreme to do business with, and refused to include it in coalitions.

The recent gains by the far right in the Dutch elections came as a surprise for their leader; the return of Tusk to Polish government; the obstruction tactics of Orban's government in Hungary endless change.

There was widespread public support for water charges in Ireland in 2015, people understood the need for a properly funded, idependent water utility company thereby reducing water profligacy. Those against water charges were the aggressive minority on the political fringes. Fianna Fail, the party that first proposed the introcduction of the water charges refused to support the charges at short notice. This was a cynical acceptance of populism. A hard right spokesperson's bid for the Irish Presidency ensured 89% would not vote for him, 8% would!

Source: Sunday Times, Irish Times usw.