Ireland General Discussion

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Leo Varadkar has been elected as the new Taoiseach, following the 2020 FG-FF agreement. Micheál Martin is now the Tánaiste.

https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1604116515564945408

How tall is Higgins? He looks like a hobbit.

5’4 according to Google.

Huh, so it's Varadkar who's quite tall, then.

Anyway, I don't like Varadkar but after the tragic farce of the last four years of Israeli politics it's kind of refreshing to see one of these rotation agreements actually pan out for once.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Leo Varadkar has been elected as the new Taoiseach, following the 2020 FG-FF agreement. Micheál Martin is now the Tánaiste.

https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1604116515564945408

How tall is Higgins? He looks like a hobbit.

5’4 according to Google.

Huh, so it's Varadkar who's quite tall, then.

yes

[Torrain]

Interesting contrast - given Macron, Zelensky, Sunak etc are all pretty short. Begs the most important question:

Why does Varadkar, the largest head of government, not simply eat the others?

[ObserverIE]

Leo Varadkar has been elected as the new Taoiseach, following the 2020 FG-FF agreement. Micheál Martin is now the Tánaiste.

https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1604116515564945408

How tall is Higgins? He looks like a hobbit.

5’4 according to Google.

Varadkar is probably about 6'2" or so, so tall but not enormously so.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Leo Varadkar has been elected as the new Taoiseach, following the 2020 FG-FF agreement. Micheál Martin is now the Tánaiste.

https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1604116515564945408

How tall is Higgins? He looks like a hobbit.

5’4 according to Google.

Varadkar is probably about 6'2" or so, so tall but not enormously so.

So it’s a classic Pretty Tall vs Pretty Short clash.

[Joe Republic]

Headline presented without comment:


Call for left-wing unity causes division

[ObserverIE]

So which Atlas Poaster do we think he was/is?

https://twitter.com/FineGael/status/1666430188597530626

[Logical]

Proposed constituency boundaries for the next election released.
Full report here : https://ec-report.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/constituency-review-report-2023.pdf

[LabourJersey]

Proposed constituency boundaries for the next election released.
Full report here : https://ec-report.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/constituency-review-report-2023.pdf

Fascinating map, thanks for this.

Really illustrates how Dublin-centric the Republic actually is.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Thanks for posting.

[Mike88]

Riots in downtown Dublin after a knife attack left 4 people injured, 3 of them children:

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1727780659572113419

[MayorCarcetti]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

[Hnv1]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

What’s the far-right in the republic? I don’t recall any populist party in Parliament, and neither FG or FF have any far-right elements

[Logical]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

What’s the far-right in the republic? I don’t recall any populist party in Parliament, and neither FG or FF have any far-right elements

There is no far right party in parliament right now but there are a bunch of independents with anti immigration views. There's Aontu but their brand is being socially conservative SF rather than being on the right.

[MayorCarcetti]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

What’s the far-right in the republic? I don’t recall any populist party in Parliament, and neither FG or FF have any far-right elements

It's very small and disorganised but definitely growing at the moment. . Depends on what you call far-right. As Logical said there's no far-right parties, but there's independents with anti-immigration views. Wouldn't really call them far-right tbh, they're more just saying what they can to get votes tbh.
 
In terms of self-professed far-right people - in the last election, even the most high-profile candidates didn't get anymore than 1-2% in their constituencies. The most successful 'far-right' candidate in recent times was perhaps businessman Peter Casey in the 2018 presidential election with his anti-traveller (Irish gypsy's basically) rhetoric, coming 2nd with 23% of the vote (still way short of Higgins on 55%).

They're kind of seen as a joke in Ireland tbh because they go around things in such a terrible way. Gemma O'Doherty (who was once a well-known reputable journalist before giving the deep end after her husband's death) for instance complained about there being too many black children in a class picture of a rural school. She turned up at the school playground to livestream, only to be confronted by one of their parents. Her and John Waters (infamous newspaper columnist who had a child with Sinead O'Connor who grew to hate him passionately) made a right show of themselves during COVID with their anti-lockdown and anti-vax 'protests'.

Fine Gael are often nicknamed the 'Blueshirts' because the party was founded by the amalgamation of the fascist Blueshirt movement and the Cumann na nGaedheal party in the 30s, but today neither they or FF have any far-right elements in them. The most high-profile far right party at the moment is The National Party but they are a complete joke, who were most recently in the news when some gold-bars they held went missing causing an internal struggle in the party. Without any real party to support, the far-right isn't really taking off in Ireland like it is elsewhere in Europe, but Casey in 2018 showed that with the right candidate, they might.

[Cassius]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

What’s the far-right in the republic? I don’t recall any populist party in Parliament, and neither FG or FF have any far-right elements

One of the aforementioned anti-immigration Independent TDs, Michael Collins (no relation) recently formed a new party, Independent Ireland, and there are parallel discussions among some of the rural TDs about forming a ‘farmers party’, although there’s nothing concrete there yet. If either were to be successful I imagine that both would fill the right-wing populist niche amongst Irish political parties.

On the other hand, I’d imagine that if they voted at all, a lot of the rioters in question would probably vote for Sinn Féin, whose support base, at least partially, is in fact quite reflective of the demographics that typically tend to vote for right-wing populist parties in other countries.

[CumbrianLefty]

I did notice one day a few months ago that #irelandisfull (or similar) was trending on Twitter - as is so often the case, this sort of mindless violence doesn't spontaneously erupt out of nowhere.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I did notice one day a few months ago that #irelandisfull (or similar) was trending on Twitter - as is so often the case, this sort of mindless violence doesn't spontaneously erupt out of nowhere.

Libraries and bookshops have been having 'issues' with much the same crowd for months.

[PSOL]

I just realized that Sinn Fein is another example of a successful vanguard party over mass parties. There truly is one common trend in successful human organizational models.

[RilakkuMAGA]

Knew what it was going to be about when I saw this thread bumped.

Absolutely shocking scenes, unprecedented in modern times in the south at least I would say.
The attack itself on the children was horrific, again some not something we usually see in Ireland. Seems however to be an isolated attack (not much info released on the perpetrator other than he's foreign-born, but has been living here for more than 20 years and is an Irish citizen, and has a history of mental health issues). The irony is that while the far-right have used this to bash immigrants, it was an immigrant (a Brazilian deliveroo driver) that intervened in the attack

Sadly though that didn't matter to these numbskulls who used it as an excuse to 'protest' and then to cause carnage. The 'patriots' bravely showed their opposition to violence by looting Footlocker.

Actually reminds me of the 2020 riots in the USA after the George Floyd death. Media proclaimed loudly that the rioters were out there for racial justice when they too were looting Foot Locker (when it was clearly just malcontents taking advantage of the police being distracted by BLM protests). But in reverse here. Needless to say, public support for BLM went into a terminal downwards spiral after...

I suspect all the alt-righters celebrating these riots are gonna pikachu wow-face when support for far-right ideas dips even lower lol

[Tetro Kornbluth]

[PSOL]

I seriously doubt there’s going to be a backlash to this, if anything this lays the fire for a movement to later spark on to

[Vosem]

For once I pretty much agree with Rilakku here: there exist examples in human history of riots intimidating governments, including sometimes elected governments, but they pretty much always cause backlashes among democratic electorates no matter what they are demanding.

[CumbrianLefty]

We still don't know the nature of the incident that kicked this all off, which is itself maybe revealing.

[MayorCarcetti]

Some happy news after a difficult week, Irish-Israeli Emily Hand has been released by Hamas after 50 days of captivity.

Leo's tweet however on the matter has caused controversy. His biblical reference has earned him some blowback https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar/status/1728535065242612184