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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— April – May 2013
B
E careful what you wish for. The voters of
Meath East rewarded Direct Democracy
Ireland (DDI) candidate, Ben Gilroy,
with a surprising .% of the vote
pushing Labour into fourth place and upsetting
Sinn Féin’s plans for a bigger slice of the cake. But
did they know what they were getting when they
opted for the former electrical contractor? Many
voters in Italy, particularly those on the Left, are
only now discovering that the StarMovement
(SM) led by multi-millionaires Beppe Grillo and
Gianroberto Casaleggio contains a significant
number of fascist sympathisers.
Grillo has called for the elimination of trade
unions and has demanded that one solution to
the current economic crisis is to lay off tens of
thousands of public employees. Casaleggio, a
former financial backer of the far-right Northern
League, has used his
web-marketing skills
to attract support
from Italian neo-fas-
cist groups such as
CasaPound and Forza
Nuova.
Back at home, the
people around Gilroy
and DDI founders,
Raymond Whitehead
and Clare Leonard,
have discovered that
their populist views
include an empa-
thy with UKIP leader
Nick Farage, the anti-
abortion Christian
Solidarity Movement
and the extreme
right-wing Freeman
movement. Earlier
this year, members
of the latter group
invaded the front of
the anti-austerity dem-
onstration organised
by the Irish Congress
of Trade Unions in
Dublin insisting that the organisers turn it into
a rally against the proposed property tax. The
Freeman of the Land movement has its origins in
an obscure conspiracy theory which propounds
the nostrum that a birth certificate creates a legal
entity which is separate from a person’s body.
Thus Gilroy is “Ben of the ancient clan Giolla Rua
(Sovereign)” instead of just plain old Ben Gilroy…
for constitutional purposes.
Gilroy was present when a group promot-
ing the Freeman view of the world delayed
the eviction of a man from his home near
Mountrath, County Laois, in early
. According to one witness,
Gilroy subjected the deputy sher-
iff to “a lecture in law which would
sound suspect to the ears of any first
year law student, let alone a prac-
tising lawyer”. Gilroy’s argument
appeared to be based on the view
that all state law is invalid and so
does not deserve respect.
The campaigner has also been
prominent in demonstrations in
Cavan supporting recalcitrant bil-
lionaire businessman Seán Quinn, sharing a
platform with the likes of pro-life activist and
GAA manager, Mickey Harte.
His well-funded by-election campaign saw
hundreds of Gilroy “Returning Power to You”
posters around east Meath although there was
little mention in his public utterances of his
admiration of Farage (who is also president of
the far-right Europe of Freedom and Democracy
group), or his links to the Quinn family or the
Freeman movement. During the general
election Whitehead, a former antiques dealer,
and night-club and restaurant- owner took
votes in Dublin South for DDI, while the liter-
ature of another candidate in the constituency,
Jane Murphy of the Christian Solidarity Party,
also detailed links to DDI.
The message of DDI is that Irish democracy
would be better served with Swiss-type recall ref-
erenda which, it argues, would make the political
system more accountable. It will be interesting
to note what the good folk of Meath East, and
other places where DDI hopes to stand, make of
this heady mix of constitutional confusion, eco-
nomic orthodoxy and flirtation with the
extreme right in Europe, when they
come to marking their ballot papers
– after a little more scutiny - next time
around.
....
More generally, while the collapse
of the Labour Party vote dominated
the media coverage of the Meath East
by-election, of potentially greater
significance for the future political
landscape was the .% of first
preferences captured by Fine Gael
candidate, Helen McEntee.
While she undoubtedly gained a significant
sympathy vote following her late father’s tragic
death, the party handlers must be eyeing up the
prospects of an overall majority (or proximity
such as makes no difference) if that trend were
to be replicated nationally.
In the meantime, protests from Labour
backbenchers that their ministers must assert
themselves more could fall on deaf ears if the
larger coalition partner decides to call Gilmore’s
bluff and simply ignores calls for a re-negotiation
of the Programme for Government.
After all, what are the prospects for Labour
if it jumps ship only for the voters to give it a
further roasting and the blame for causing an
unwanted election?
frank connolly
news
There was
little mention
in his public
utterances of
his admiration
of Farage
(who is also
president of
the far-right
Europe of
Freedom and
Democracy
group), or his
links to the
Quinn family
or the Freeman
movement
Gilroy –Irish for Grillo?
Direct Democracy benefited from voter ignorance in Meath East
Ben Gilroy on platform with the Quinn family, Mickey Harte and others at Cavan protest last year
