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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
PB April-May
April-May 29
Anti-immigrant incidents in Europe
Recen incidens include:
•
Hnu Shooings (Germny, Februry ) – A
fr-righ exremis killed nine people of
immigrn bckground wo shish brs. A
rcis ck on memoril even for he Hnu
vicims yer ler led o severl injuries.
• Aomwffen Division Arress (Spin, December
) – Spnish uhoriies rresed Nzi
prmiliry leders linked o plnned rce wr
cks.
•
In Augus , English ciies sring wih
Souhpor nd spreding o London, Mncheser
nd Plymouh, experienced series of violen
rios incied by fr-righ groups, rgeing
mosques, immigrns, nd individuls of colour,
riggered by sbbing inciden in Souhpor,
where hree young girls were killed during
primry school dnce workshop. Despie he
perperor being -yer-old locl mle, fr-
righ fcions lleged he cker ws Muslim
sylum seeker. This misinformion rpidly
spred online.
•
Solingen Arson Ack (Germny, June ) —
A residenil building housing immigrns ws
se on fi re, killing fi ve people.
•
Amserdm Foobll — Reled Violence
beween pro-Plesinins nd Isreli visiors,
nd locl Jews.
•
Mgdeburg Chrisms Mrke Ack (Germny,
December ) – An ni-Islm civis
cked Chrisms mrke, injuring severl
people.
•
Örebro School Shooing (Sweden, Februry
) — A gunmn killed en people, mosly
immigrns, n educion cenre.
• Mulhouse sbbings (Februry , Frnce) — -yer-
old Algerin immigrn, previously conviced of
erroris offenses, crried ou knife ck
mrke, killing one person nd injuring severl police
offi cers.
Anti-immigrant incidents in Ireland
Recen incidens include:
•
Rooskey Hoel Fire (Jnury ) The Shnnon
Key Wes Hoel in Rooskey, Couny Roscommon,
inended for use s Direc Provision cenre for
sylum seekers, ws rgeed in wo rson
cks.
• Moville Hoel Fire (Februry ) The Cisel
Mr Hoel in Moville, Couny Donegl, lso
plnned s Direc Provision cenre, ws
severely dmged in n rson ck.
• Kill Proess (November ) Proess in Kill,
Couny Kildre, opposed rnsiionl sheler
for refugees former equesrin cenre,
ciing fl ood risks nd overcrowding. A fi re broke
ou in he cenre’s shed, leding o Grd
invesigion.
•
Es Wll Proess (November -erly )
Proess begn over he emergency
ccommodion cenre Two Gewy Building
in Es Wll nd exended o blocking he Dublin
Por Tunnel nd Es-Link oll bridge, demnding
he cenre’s closure. Led by solicior Mlchy
Seenson, hey denied opposing sylum seekers
bu objeced o unsuible ccommodions.
Concerns included lck of consulion,
overcrowding, nd clims he building ws unfi .
Iniilly housing single mles, i ler
included fmilies.
•
Drimngh Proess (- Jnury )
Proesers wrongly ssumed Ukrinin refugees
were permnenly occupying Our Ldy of Mercy
Secondry School. Proess coninued despie
heir deprure, leding o rress.
•
Bllymun Proess ( Jnury ) Proess
occurred ouside Trvelodge housing
sylum seekers.
• Ashown Ack nd Proes ( Jnury )
A group cked migrns en cmp. A
subsequen proes denounced he ck,
clling i rcilly moived.
•
Fingls Proess ( Februry )
proesers ghered ouside Fingls Grd
sion. A known fr-righ civis ws ler
rresed for inciing violence.
• Sndwih Sree Ack (- Februry )
Ani-immigrion civiss cked refugee
cmp. The following dy, proesers se fi re o
ens. Then Toisech Leo Vrdkr condemned
he violence, nd proeser ws ler chrged
wih rson.
•
Clondlkin Fire (Mrch ) An rson ck
occurred sie in Clondlkin, Dublin, inended
o house sylum seekers.
•
Inner Ciy rsons (Jnury-My ) Arson
cks on poenil refugee ccommodions
occurred in Sherrrd Sree nd Moun Sree. In
My proesers rgeed sylum seekers ouside
he Inernionl Proecion Offi ce.
•
Clre Proes (- My ) Residens
blockded Mgown House Hoel in Inch,
proesing gins he housing of mle
sylum seekers. Concerns included poor
communicion nd sie suibiliy.
•
Bllymun Fire (My ) A building in Bllymun,
Dublin, plnned o ccommode migrns, ws
se on fi re by rson.
• Bllybrck Incidens (July ) People Before
Profi Councillor Hugh Lewis’ home ws
cked over his suppor for refugees. Proess
rgeed Ridge Hll, followed by n rson ck
on i.
•
Lismore Hoel Fire (Augus ) The former
Lismore House Hoel in Couny Werford,
plnned for sylum seekers, ws bdly dmged
in suspeced rson ck.
•
Leinser House Proes ( Sepember )
Proesers blocked Leinser House, prevening
TDs’ ccess. The demonsrion, linked o fr-
righ groups, included effi gies of poliicins.
Boles of urine were hrown, nd rress
were mde. Rosslre Hrbour Proes (November
) Proess opposed using he former Gre
Souhern Hoel for sylum seekers, ciing
lck of infrsrucure. A plnned blockde of
Rosslre Europor followed.
•
November Dublin Rio ( November
) Triggered by sbbing inciden involving
schoolchildren, ni-immigrion proess
escled ino violen rios. Buses, Grd
vehicles, nd shops were rgeed, wih over
rress mde. Socil medi misinformion
mplifi ed he unres.
•
Fire Former Shipwrigh Pub, Ringsend (
December ) The former Shipwrigh pub in
Ringsend, inended o serve s emergency
ccommodion for homeless fmilies, ws
severely dmged in suspeced rson ck.
This inciden highlighed ensions nd
misinformion bou sylum seeker
ccommodions.
•
Ross Lke House Hoel Fire (December )
The Ross Lke House Hoel in Rosschill, Couny
Glwy, inended o house sylum seekers,
ws severely dmged in suspeced rson
ck.
•
Bris, Couny Dublin (Februry ) A fi re broke ou
he sie of former nursing home Crookshill fer
proess over plns o house sylum seekers.
•
Tllgh Arson Ack (My ) An empy
building on High Sree in Tllgh, ermrked
for sylum seekers, ws rgeed in n rson
ck. An -yer-old mn ws rresed nd
chrged in connecion wih he inciden.
•
Coolock Proess nd Fires (Mrch-July )
Proess former fcory in Coolock
escled ino rios nd rson. Mchinery ws
desroyed during he unres, nd grdí rresed
individuls.
•
Belfs Proess (Augus ) Ani-Muslim-
immigrion demonsrions led o propery
dmge, including smshed windows nd
dmged furniure, wih fireworks hrown
during he mrches. The Police Service of
Norhern Irelnd mnged muliple incidens,
including ssuls nd rson.
• Newown Moun Kennedy Tensions (November
) A en cmp for sylum seekers in
Newown Moun Kennedy fced hosiliy from
some locls, while ohers emped o suppor
he new rrivls.
•
Coolock Arson Aemp (Jnury ) The
former Crown Pins premises on he Mlhide
Rod in Coolock experienced is eighh
suspeced rson ck. On Jnury,
emergency services responded o repors of
fi re he sie, which hd been ermrked for
sylum-seeker ccommodion.
The Problem...
POLITICS
30 April-May
April-May 31
...The Rise of the Far Right
race”.
•
Rhetorical respectability: Unlike crude
racists, Buckley framed his arguments in
terms of states’ rights and gradualism,
making racist policies more palatable to
mainstream conservatives.
•
Later shift: By the 1970s and 80s, he
softened his stance on race, but his early
influence helped cement the US conservative
movement’s resistance to racial justice.
Buckley helped intellectualise opposition to
racial progress, laying the groundwork for the
coded racism of later conservatives. He was
the satanic archangel of the Republican Party,
unctuously presaging its descent from neo-
liberalism to neo-conservatism.
3. Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
– Policy and dog-whistle politics
Reagan, both as governor of California and as
US president (1981–89), pioneered racial dog-
whistle politics.
•
Opposition to Civil Rights: As governor, he
opposed the Fair Housing Act and armative
action, insisting they were government
overreach.
• “Welfare Queen” narrative: He popularised
the stereotype of the lazy, Black welfare
recipient, stoking white resentment against
social programmes.
•
States’ rights and the Southern strategy: He
launched his 1980 presidential campaign in
Neshoba County Fair near Philadelphia
where three civil rights activists had been
murdered — flagging alignment with white
Southern voters who opposed civil rights.
•
War on Drugs: Reagan’s policies
disproportionately targeted Black
communities, leading to mass incarceration
and compounding long-term racial
inequalities.
Reagan’s use of coded language reinforced
By David Langwallner
What’s happening,
internationally
In recent years, there have been fabled shifts
to the right in India, Russia, Israel, Argentina
as well as the US and indeed a great number of
other countries, even in the EU. But the tectonic
convulsion in many of them is their first-time
embrace of illiberalism and often racism.
Today’s political landscape is characterised
by the disintegration of what turned out to be
a fragile democratic consensus, leaving space
for populist movements that appeal to the
public’s worst instincts, especially crass
majoritarian intolerance of vulnerable
minorities, often in the name of democracy.
The preceding age of neoliberal economic
policies, brutal austerity measures, increasing
inequality and the ascendancy of billionaires,
has created conditions ripe for far-right
ideologies to flourish. According to the
Economist magazine, “the rise of the hard right
is probably the result of a mix of factors. A
succession of crises from 2008 onwards
weakened confidence in European leaders.
And although Europeans are getting richer,
many feel anxious about their economic
security and social status. This makes them
more sensitive to cultural changes such as
immigration — even when those changes are
happening far away. These trends are
compounded by changes to the media
landscape, particularly the rise of social media.
The hard right’s growing support also has a
ratchet: each time the parties increase their
representation, they are normalised in the eyes
of more mainstream voters”. And the global
cultural hegemon, Trump’s America, is now an
icon of anti-woke. The mood globally is in
revolution.
History of Racism in
Conservatism
Racism has been an undercurrent in
conservatism since its beginnings. Arguably it
got temporarily diverted with the serious rise
of neoliberal economics, focusing on money
not culture or background, but it never truly
went away. Conservatives don’t in general like
people who are very dierent from themselves.
Space now exists for that prejudice, raw and
overt.
1. Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
– Conservatism and Hierarchy
Burke, an 18th-century conservative
philosopher, is often cited as the intellectual
father of modern conservatism. While he was
not explicitly racist in the modern sense, his
defence of hierarchy and tradition provided
ideological foundations later used to justify
racial inequality.
•
Defence of Hierarchy: Burke believed society
should be governed by elites and natural
hierarchies. Others have used this to justify
racial stratification.
•
Opposition to the French Revolution: He saw
attempts radically to alter society as
dangerous, which influenced later
conservative resistance to racial-equality
movements.
•
Equanimity on Colonialism and Slavery:
Though he criticised some aspects of
colonial abuse, he did not fundamentally
oppose the British Empire’s racial
hierarchies.
Burke’s ideas on tradition and gradual change
influenced later conservatives who resisted
civil-rights reforms in the 20th century.
2. William F Buckley Jr (1925–2008)
– Intellectualising Racism
Buckley, as the founder of the National Review,
was a key figure in moving 20th-century
American conservatism away from Burke, and
centralising racial politics.
• Opposition to Civil Rights: In the 1950s and
1960s, National Review opposed
desegregation and civil-rights laws. Buckley
argued — nastily — that the South had the
right to maintain racial segregation because
white Southerners were the “more advanced
The figure is ctully much lower
Where stnds
Irelnd?
30 April-May
April-May 31
systemic racism while maintaining plausible
deniability. For example Reagan frequently told
a story about a woman in Chicago abusing
welfare, saying: “She has 80 names, 30
addresses, 12 Social Security cards...She’s got
Medicaid, getting food stamps, and welfare
under each of her names”.
Writers on racism and fascism
Modern political philosophers such as Charles
Mills and Iris Marion Young have explored how
structural racism operates through economic
and political systems. Far-right groups exploit
racial fears by framing immigrants as outsiders
who threaten Westerners’ way of life, ignoring
their economic and cultural contributions.
By scapegoating immigrants, the far right
diverts attention from the true causes of
inequality — economic systems designed to
benefit the few at the expense of the many. This
tactic shifts attention from systemic failings to
cultural and identity issues, exploiting visceral
fears of social change, when the focus should
be rational opposition to economic, social and
environmental inequality.
Thomas Mann’s novel ‘Doctor Faustus’
(1947) shows allegorically how intellectuals,
artists, and bureaucrats become seduced or
compromised by authoritarianism. The
protagonist, Adrian Leverkühn, a composer,
makes a Faustian bargain, trading his soul for
artistic genius. His moral and physical decline
mirrors the descent of Germany into Nazi
ideology.
The problem is that much of the world in
2025 is analogous to Weimar Germany though
the heralds of fascism are not Beelzebub but
everyday bigots: celebrities, politicians,
billionaires, rioters, and often ordinary people.
Perhaps your neighbour. Even your friend.
In his final novel, ‘The Plot Against America’
(2004), Philip Roth explored the idea that a
fascist figure like Lindbergh could rise in
America, dislodging the social democrat
Roosevelt. It is happening in our midst. In
2025.
Electoral Politics
Europe
The immigrion figures
In 2022, 5.1 million people immigrated from
non-EU countries to the EU. It received 875,000
first-time asylum applications in 2022
The European far right: cresting for a
decade
Starting about a decade ago, far-right parties
have achieved significant electoral successes
across Europe. Many of them had gained a
toehold a decade before with nationalist but
less anti-immigrant agendas.
Perhaps the first post-War foothold,
breaching the cordon sanitaire keeping it from
political respectability, and government, was
secured as long ago as 2000, when Jorg
Haider’s Austrian far-right, populist and anti-
immigrant Freedom Party unexpectedly came
in second after the Social Democrats in the
1999 parliamentary elections and, on
condition that Haider step down, the Christian
Democrats went into coalition with them. This
caused widespread outrage both in Austria,
with its foul history of World War II Nazism, and
the rest of Europe. The heads of government of
the other fourteen EU members decided to
cease cooperation with the Austrian
government but that scrupulousness was not
to last. In 2024 the Freedom Party gained
28.8% in the general election but in February
it was excluded from government formation.
In 2005, Poland’s Law and Justice Party first
came to power with a nationalist and Catholic
agenda. By 2015 it won 37.6% of the popular
vote, embracing an anti-immigrant line and
gaining parliamentary control.
Hungary’s Fidesz came to power in 1998 as
a mainstream conservative party and moved
rightward maintaining power in 2022 with as
much as 54% of the vote.
In Italy, Berlusconi first became Prime
Minister in 1994 on a largely Thatcherite
economic agenda but by the early 2000s was
pushing an anti-immigration agenda. In 2018,
Italy’s Lega Nord joined the government with
17% of the vote and, in 2022, Giorgia Meloni’s
Brothers of Italy won 26%, forming a far-right
government.
Candidates for France’s National Rally
(formerly National Front) were defeated in the
second round in the 2002, 2017 and 2022
presidential elections under two dierent
incarnations of Le Pen. It has been the largest
parliamentary opposition party in the National
Assembly since 2022 and its prospects are
good in the 2027 Presidential election.
In 2023, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom
(PVV) led the Dutch elections though he was
excluded as Prime Minister.
In 2024, Alternative for Germany (AfD) won
16% of the vote in the European Parliament
elections, second only to the CDU/CSU and
almost five percentage points more than in the
2019 election. And in Germany’s 2025 federal
election, the AfD prevailed in all former East
German states. Overall it came in second to the
CDU.
In January Belgium formed a governing
coalition, led for the first time by a right-wing,
nationalist party, the N-VA, with new Prime
Minister, Bart de Wever.
Recent polls in the UK show surging support,
now 25%, for Reform UK, a right-wing party led
by Nigel Farage, placing the party ahead of
both Labour and the Conservatives.
On 15 March, Romania’s electoral
commission excluded a second far-right
hopeful, Diana Șoșoacă, from May’s rerun of
the presidential election, following wholesale
interference from Russia.
Under-represented
Nevertheless the Right remains under-
represented. In early March the Economist
found “that Europe’s hard-right parties
received 24% of the vote in recent national
elections, winning 23% of parliamentary seats.
But they make up just 14% of the seats held by
parties that are in power. Just two heads of
government — Giorgia Meloni of Italy and
Viktor Orban of Hungary — come from the hard-
right parties”. Of course this is to exclude some
of the nationalist, and populist, leaders
mentioned.
Outside Europe, sitting governments in the
US, Russia, India, Argentina and Israel are far-
right and dangerous.
And of course it all culminates in Donald
Trump 2.0 unravelling all over the world’s
media and politics since January. It has all been
a mere platform for the trump of liberalism.
Ireland
The immigrion figures
The CSO reports that 150,000 individuals
relocated to Ireland in the year 2023-4 — the
highest number in 17 years. There are currently
33,000 international protection applicants, up
from 7244 in 2017.
The Irish far right: born of neoliberal
failures
Ireland’s financial crisis of 2008 led to harsh
austerity measures that slashed public
services, predictably fomented a housing
crisis, and deepened income inequality at least
in certain sectors. Covid 19 disenfranchised
many and spawned right-wing conspiracy
theories. Although the Irish economy has
recovered on paper, many people remain
excluded from this recovery. Far-right groups
in Ireland have capitalised on this
dissatisfaction, turning legitimate grievances
about housing and public services into
scapegoating of migrants and refugees. Most
of all they have an English-language imprimatur
from Trump, albeit his crudeness is alien in
Ireland.
They are strongest on social media and
weakest electorally. According to the
Economist, “the association between
immigration rates and support for the hard
right is weaker than you might expect. Ireland
32 April-May
April-May 33
has one of the largest foreign-born populations
in Europe, for example, but no major hard-right
party. The inverse is true of Poland”.
These are the main forces:
•
National Alliance – Formed in 2024 as an
electoral coalition of far-right parties,
including the National Party, Ireland First,
and The Irish People, to prevent vote splitting
but not a party itself. It put 32 candidates
into the field in the 2024 general election but
not one was elected. In February the National
Party declared the Alliance now defunct.
• National Party – Founded in 2016 by Justin
Barrett, the party promotes Irish nationalism,
anti-immigration and anti-EU policies, and
social conservatism. It has claimed between
1,000 and 2,000 members though,
according to the Irish Times, meetings of the
party seldom attract more than 150
attendees. It has one elected member, a
councillor on Fingal County Council, Patrick
Quinlan: Deputy leader of its anti-Barrett
Reynolds faction. It has a fetish for gold and
sometimes loses it in mysterious
circumstances.
•
Ireland First – Led until mid-February by
now-disillusioned Derek Blighe, this
nationalist party strongly opposes
immigration. It is part of the National
Alliance.
•
The Irish People – Another member of the
National Alliance, led by Anthony Cahill,
focusing on nationalism and
anti-immigration.
•
Irish Freedom Party – Established in 2018, it
is led by Farage-acolyte Hermann Kelly (who
once stated: “The first thing they want to do
is kill Irish kids and [they] want to replace
them with every nationality who wants to
come into our country”) and Michael Leahy
formerly a board member of An Bord
Pleanála. The party promotes Ireland leaving
the EU and a united Ireland; and is “pro-
natalist and supportive of stable families for
procreation”. It had one local councillor, Glen
Moore, on South Dublin County Council.
However, in a Tweet in February 2025, Moore
stated that he had resigned from the party
citing disagreements (there’s a pattern here)
with Herman Kelly’s leadership, It has failed
to elect any national representation.
•
Liberty Republic – Previously known as
Direct Democracy Ireland, it rebranded in
2024 under Ben Gilroy, promoting
ethnonationalism.
•
Síol na hÉireann – A small Catholic and
nationalist group focused on Irish
sovereignty, cultural conservatism, and
opposition to immigration.
• Anti-Corruption Ireland (ACI) – Founded by
Gemma O’Doherty, this group is known for
promoting conspiracy theories, nationalist
views, and anti-establishment activism.
Others with right-wing stances on
immigration
•
Independent Ireland with four TDs and 23
Councillors is right, not far-right, and against
illegal, though not legal, immigration. It
claims Immigration is the most pressing
issue facing Ireland.
•
Sinn Féin is in a dierent bracket though,
from post-colonial embrace of distressed
migrants, it has shifted to an immigration-
unenthusiastic position since it was ganged
up on by anti-immigrant activists who
berated it for being anti-national on the
issue and cost it some of its reputation for
hard-nosed radicalism and some of its
working-class base, notably in the 2024
local and European elections. The party’s
new policy document, “International
Protection: A Fair System that Works”, seeks
to address public dissatisfaction by calling
for greater control over immigration
processes. Key proposals include audits of
local communities to assess capacity before
accommodating asylum seekers, ensuring
Ireland’s immigration policy is aligned with
national interests, and improving the
eciency of processing applications. The
policy aims to balance international
obligations with local concerns about
resources and integration etc.
Recent electoral performances
In the 2018 Presidential election, Peter Casey,
driven by his provocative comments
questioning the recognition of Travellers as an
ethnic minority, received 23.3% of the vote,
finishing second behind incumbent President
Michael D Higgins. Casey’s 2019 European
Parliament candidacy in the Midlands-North
West constituency yielded around 10% of the
vote. He recently declared his intention to run
in the 2025 Presidential election. In 2020,
Casey ran as a candidate in the general election
for Donegal but got less than 2% of the vote.
In the 2020 general election in Ireland, the
Irish Freedom Party and the National Party
collectively received less than 1% of the vote,
with no candidates elected to the Dáil
(parliament).
In the 2024 European Parliament and local
elections, far-right parties in Ireland continued
to perform poorly overall but managed to gain
some ground, particularly in local elections.
Despite fielding over 100 candidates, most
candidates receiving less than 1% of the vote.
However, there were notable successes,
particularly in Dublin, where five independent
far-right candidates, including Gavin Pepper
and Malachy Steenson, were elected as
councillors. These figures have been closely
associated with anti-immigrant rallies and the
rise of xenophobic sentiment. Gavin Pepper is
currently facing an investigation by the ethics
ocer in Dublin City Council.
In the European Parliament elections, Derek
Blighe, leader of the Ireland First movement,
ratcheted over 25,000 first-preference votes in
the Ireland South constituency, but fell short
of winning a seat. Latterly he has claimed, in a
confused and laddish way, that he did not want
to be elected.
In the 2024 Irish general election, far-right
parties obtained less than 2%, with none
securing parliamentary representation.
According to the Irish Times in late 2024,”Irish
extremists remain on the outside looking in,
politically speaking at least. That would
perhaps not have been a common predication
back at the start of the year”. Momentum is
poor, electorally.
Protests and violence
On the ground, momentum is not so clearly
backwards. There has been a marked
reduction in protests, particularly violent ones,
but it is not clear if incidents of hate crimes are
going down. A comparative overview of hate
crimes and hate-related incidents reported in
Ireland published by An Garda Síochána show
there was a 12% increase in hate crime and
hate-related incidents between 2022 and
2023.
But figures for 2024 have not been
published.
In 2023 social media hit its angriest, the
Garda were not ready for the intensity of
protests and violence. Politically it seemed
next to nobody was being deported when their
asylum applications were rejected, radical hate
legislation seemed on the cards, 110,000
Ukrainians had fled war to Ireland and needed
scarce accommodation.
As recently as June 2024, the Irish Human
Quer He
Crimes
He-Reled
(Non-Crime)
I
ncidens
Q
Q
Q
Q
Yer He
Crimes
He-Reled
(Non-Crime)
I
ncidens
Tol
Incidens
Percenge
Increse
from
Previous Yer
%
Table 1: Annual Data Comparison Table 2: Quarterly Data for 2023
32 April-May
April-May 33
Rights and Equality Commission reported that
“Recent research from the State and civil
society points to the existence of intolerant
attitudes towards immigrants, Travellers,
Roma and transgender people, which are
increasingly permeating the public domain
through protests, arson attacks, and hate
speech on- and o - line”.
Some of the loss of far-right energy is due to
soothing words from our two-faced but not
overtly racist established parties, and indeed
the fact the main opposition party Sinn Féin
has resisted temptations to full-on nationalist
populism but in the end shifted rightward on
immigration.
There seems too to be a national desire —
driven by a fairly successful economy and
ascendant national culture — to be
di erentiated from other harder-line countries
especially Trump’s brash America. This is
symptomised by Ireland’s independent stance
on the Israeli assault on Gaza and the likes of
its ridicule of Trump’s sexual-abuser-on-
sexual=abuser meeting with Conor McGregor.
Some of it is a tightening of Garda
enforcement of the law, There have been
numerous convictions for the Dublin riots and
low-level players like Gemma O’Doherty and
citizen journalist Philip Dwyer have been
judicially sanctioned. Some of it is the loss of
electoral momentum, especially relative to
other Western countries; some, perhaps most
of it, is because of a change in Irish policy.
Government reaction
In November 2022, Fine Gael Minister for
Justice, Helen McEntee, introduced accelerated
processing for asylum applications from
designated safe countries, effecting a
reduction of up to 70% in applications from
these countries.
From March 1, 2024, Ukrainian citizens
registering for temporary protection and
seeking state-provided accommodation were
housed in Designated Accommodation Centres
for no more than 90 days. And standard social
welfare payments to them, while there, were
discontinued and replaced by payments of
€38.80 per adult and €29.80 per child, subject
to an income test. There has been a move away
from expensive private-sector
accommodations to public facilities.
In 2022, Ireland received 13,651 applications
for international protection. Of the 4,402 fi rst-
instance decisions made that year, 80% were
positive, broken down as follows: refugee
status: 31%; subsidiary protection:
2%;Permission to remain: 46%.The remaining
20% of applications were rejected.
In 2023, the approval rates reduced with
28% of applicants granted refugee status,
2.5% granted subsidiary protection and only
6% granted leave to remain. Ultimately, nearly
60% of applications were refused that year, a
three-fold increase.
In April 2024, in response to increasing
asylum applications, McEntee proposed
legislation to re-designate the UK as a “safe
country” for asylum seekers facilitating the
return of certain asylum seekers to the UK.
In 2024 and 2025 it became clear that hate-
speech legislation would not be introduced.
By mid-February 2025, Jim O’Callaghan,new
Minister in a right-of-centre government shorn
of the tolerant Greens, speaking at one of his
fi rst media engagements, was reported by the
Irish Times to have “signalled a tougher stance
on immigration and deportations”. In February
32 immigrants were deported to Georgia and
currently over 500 have been targeted for
future expulsion. O’Callaghan took care to
claim credit. His predecessor, Helen McEntee,
and even Sinn Féin also veered rightwards
promoting a policy of no new immigrant
centres in areas of social and economic
deprivation, and enhanced community
consultations.
In mid-March, the European Commission
introduced a proposed revision to the 2008
Return Directive, amending the EU legal
framework on returns or deportations outside
of the EU. Following pressure from certain
member states, it also introduces a possible
legal basis for ‘return hubs’ in EU law through
“agreements or arrangements” with third
countries. The Commission itself had
discarded the concept of ‘return hubs’ in 2018.
In June 2024, the Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission reported: “Countering
hateful narratives and misinformation is
especially vital in times of political uncertainty.
We have seen many countries in Europe and
further afield succumb to populism,
unilateralism, racism, and an increasingly
narrow and inward-looking vision of statehood,
sovereignty, and national belonging”.
Conclusion
Looking to lessons for Ireland, the Commission
recommended: “In light of the recent
registration of a number of far-right parties, the
State must adopt a strong leadership role in
protecting the integrity of election campaigns
in the coming years, including by incorporating
learnings from the recent Local and European
elections. Given the evidence that far-right
activity has directly infl uenced government
policies in the area of immigration, political
parties must redouble their e orts to avoid
being ‘baited’ into adopting far-right policy
positions and should refuse to make
concessions which appease these groups”.
Readers will make their own minds up as to
whether, propelled now by Donald Trump and
his subalterns, the US, Europe and Ireland are,
in March 2025, “sleepwalking” into a new form
of fascism. For this writer Ireland’s position is
more secure than that of many of its partners
— but it is also more complacent.
Eco’s 14 Characteristics of Fascism: A Diagnostic Tool
Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay Ur-Fascism outlines 14 central characteristics of fascism:
Fascism
• The Cult of Tradition
• Rejection of
Modernism.
• The Cult of Action for
Action’s Sake
• Disagreement is
Treason
• Fear of Di erence
• Appeal to a Frustrated
Middle Class
• Obsession with a Plot
• Enemies at Once Too
Strong and Too Weak
• Pacifi sm is Tra cking
with the Enemy
• Contempt for the Weak
• Selective Populism
• Machismo
• Everybody is Educated
to Become a Hero
• Newspeak
• Racism and Modern
Political Philosophy
Fscism, US-style, 2025?
