Many Irish Voters Are Sick of Tweedledum and Tweededee But Feel There's No Way Out: Some Thoughts on Tomorrow's Election

Many readers of this blog are not Irish citizens, yet have had occasion to observe how the steady advance of Woke and “progressive” policies and narratives has taken the “emerald isle” by storm over the past decade or so. It is as if Ireland were a “test case” to see if a formerly Catholic and broadly conservative society could be co-opted into the global “progressive” experiment of hate speech laws, identity politics, the dismantlement of the family, the evisceration of informed consent to medication, assisted suicide, indiscriminate migration policies, etc.

Tomorrow, Friday 29th November, Irish voters will elect 174 individuals to represent them in the Dáil, the lower house of the Irish Parliament. Since June 2020, Ireland has been led by an Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Greens coalition and they have effectively abandoned their centre-right constituencies.

FF & FG now stand for: Woke hate speech laws, the promotion of trans ideology in the classroom, the financing of a "progressive" NGO industry out of touch with public sentiment, prioritising the housing and income claims of international protection applicants over those of Irish citizens, technocratic styles of governance that gaslight dissenters as "far right", one of the harshest lockdown regimes in Europe, surrendering Ireland's control over immigration to EU authorities, and uncritical embrace of climate policies with little regard to their impact on ordinary citizens and farmers.

Voters who actually believe a man is a man and a woman is a woman, who want jobs and cost-of-living factored in before adopting trendy "green" policies, who care about law and order and civil liberties like freedom of movement and freedom of speech, and want an orderly immigration system, are in a bit of a pickle: FF-FG-Greens are clearly ruled out by their abysmal track record, Sinn Fein blows with the wind, and there is no well-established and "heavy-weight" political party that can lead a "common sense" government on the right.

The only parties that come remotely close are Aontú (which might be described as socially conservative and economically centre-left) and Independent Ireland, neither of which is in a realistic position to compete with FF, FG and Sinn Féin judging by the polls.

That leaves the independents or non-party-affiliated candidates. Notably, the fraction of the Dáil (14 out of 160 TDs) that actually opposed the hate speech bill in 2023 was dominated by independent TDs, and independent TDs have frequently spoken out against things like hate speech laws, the ideologising of the educational system and the gaslighting of local citizens who raise concerns about local asylum centres. Independents are performing in the polls roughly at the same level as Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin (approximately 20%). But they do not form a single, cohesive party. So what can a responsible voter on the right do in Ireland?

There will be no triumphant victory or populist “surge” for the right, at least none that can be channelled into a viable government, since there is no major party embracing traditional conservative policies like putting economic development ahead of abstract leftist ideology, protection of human life from conception to death, freedom of speech and orderly immigration. Therefore, Irish voters who care about standard conservative issues like protection for the family, pro-natality policies, civil rights, the right to life, freedom of speech, law and order, etc. are compelled to play a game of damage limitation.

Though cost of living, housing, healthcare, and migration are major concerns for Irish voters, unfortunately the next coalition government, which will likely be led by FF and FG or else Sinn Féin with FF or FG, is unlikely to offer any convincing “fixes” for these issues. But as we have seen over the past decade, incompetent and self-serving politicians can do enormous harm to society, so anything we can do to reduce that harm - for example, to reduce their majority in the house, or empower opposition voices of common sense, is surely worth the effort. In short, those who can vote, should vote to limit the damages of the next government and perhaps pave the path for future change. But how?

Damage limitation means getting as many common sense, non-Establishment candidates into the Dáil as possible, candidates who care about the issues right-wing parties used to care about, and who are capable of putting Irish interests ahead of EU technocracy. In practice, that means independents or else candidates affiliated to Aontú, given that Aontú is at least much more closely aligned with the non-Woke concerns of normal voters than the FF-FG-Green alliance.

There is at least a chance that some of the votes of common sense independents on the right, combined with parties like Independent Ireland and Aontú, might prove decisive on controversial legislation, and just having them in the Dáil at least strengthens the presence of an opposition voice in the house.

Refusing to vote because things look bad is defeatist. It is worth voting to limit the harms of the next government and to send a message that you are disgusted with the policies of the incumbent government.