ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON of last weekend, hundreds of men, women and children gathered at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin as they had done several times during the pandemic.
From 2pm, they marched together down Parnell Square and up O’Connell Street under garda escort, waving flags and homemade signs which described Covid-19 vaccines as “kill shots” and touted the benefits of ivermectin, a debunked ‘cure’ for the virus.
Upon reaching the GPO, the demonstration stopped and gathered on the street’s central median, where barriers and a stage were erected to allow speakers to address the crowd.
“Thank you everyone who’s made the effort to come out today to continue the fight for their children’s right to bodily integrity,” the first speaker began, prompting cheers from those in attendance.
“And to fight for their freedom and to push the Government into a complete repealing of the legislation which at any moment could be used to reinstate the measures lifted today.”
At 6am that morning, almost all remaining Covid-19 restrictions were eased in Ireland after Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan informed the Government two days previously that there was no longer a public health rationale for most measures.
This may have also signalled the end of demonstrations against those public health in Ireland.
During the pandemic, these occasionally turned violent and targeted the homes of public figures like Holohan and politicians, prompting criticism and a warning last month that aggressive rhetoric from anti-lockdown groups should “not be underestimated”.
But the widespread lifting of measures on Saturday did not end the level of opposition towards them.
Many within the movement still view Covid restrictions and the rollout of vaccines as representing a tyrannical overreach of the Government and other elites into the everyday lives and bodily integrity of Irish citizens, and something to be resisted at all costs.
Yet not even the easing of most restrictions in Ireland changed the desire of members within the movement to fight back against mask-wearing rules and Covid-19 vaccines.
Emboldened by the latest developments in the pandemic, sections of the anti-lockdown movement have shifted their focus, with many acting as if no restrictions have been lifted at all.
School restrictions
Much of the focus of Covid sceptic groups has pivoted towards the few measures and health interventions that remain in place.
The ongoing requirement for children to wear masks at school have become a particular rallying point – something that was very much in evidence at last Saturday’s protest.
As part of last week’s announcement, the Government said rules requiring mask-wearing in schools will not be reviewed until February.
The measure was initially introduced to combat the high incidence of the virus among children of school-going age, many of whom were not vaccinated or eligible for vaccines at the time it was introduced.
It has been questioned more widely since being brought in, including by parents and advocacy groups who say that Deaf and hard of hearing children in particular will be left behind because mask-wearing will make them unable to lip-read.
Many within the movement have also questioned the fairness of allowing adults to enjoy new freedoms in the hospitality sector while children have to abide by restrictions in school.
Among the placards held at the demonstration were ones which read “Justice for the kids and “Stop destroying our children’s lives”, while there were also chants of “not my children” as speeches were read.
“Our children matter and their freedom matters. I will not accept less than a full repeal of the emergency power because their future matters,” Leanne Conroy, a co-founder of the Enough is Enough campaign told those present.
A analysis of more than 100 Irish pages which share misinformation on Crowdtangle, a tool that allows content shared on Facebook to be tracked, found that concerns about Covid restrictions in schools regularly featured in lists of posts with the highest number of interactions on each day over the past week.
One prominent page produced a video featuring “senior medical professionals” which appealed to parents to “protect their children from the Irish Government’s mask mandates”.
Another shared the official email addresses of Education Minister Norma Foley and Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, along with a sample letter, encouraging parents to “collectively take action to challenge the continuation of the face mask policies”.
Ciarán O’Connor of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) explains how these type of campaigns are a continuation of the messaging of anti-vaccine groups which have been seen throughout the pandemic.
“It’s the same kind of posturing that lots of these groups have used as an argument, the same idea of protecting children against vaccines or masks,” he tells The Journal.
“It shows that these groups will continue to adapt and adopt and adapt narratives and concepts that will justify their continued protests.”
Emergency legislation
More broadly, the movement is also calling for an end to the emergency legislation which has enabled politicians to enact Covid-19 restrictions.
Despite the easing of restrictions last week, the legislation remains in place, though senior figures have indicated that it will be allowed to lapse when a sunset clause kicks in in March.
Prominent figures within the movement claim that the legislation will be used to re-introduce restrictions before long.
Tracey O’Mahony, a barrister who rose to prominence during the pandemic because of her opposition to some public health measures, started a GoFundMe campaign in August 2020 pledging to take the Government to court over the legislation.
To date, the page has raised over €143,000 and continues to receive donations despite the lifting of restrictions last week and suggestions that the legislation underpinning them will soon lapse.
It is not clear if O’Mahony or a solicitor named as a beneficiary on the page have yet received all of the funds raised to date, though the page notes that some of the funds have been spent “sparingly”.
Papers filed in the High Court in March last year show that O’Mahony has initiated a case against the Minister for Health, the Attorney General and the State, but there have been no updates in the case since then.
Aside from O’Mahony, anti-vaccine campaigners are concerned that the emergency laws could see the return of digital Covid certs if case numbers rise again.
There are likewise fears that the unvaccinated would be blamed for such a surge and that health officials would introduce mandatory vaccination against Covid-19, as has been proposed in Austria, Germany, Italy and Greece.
At last week’s protest, campaigners pointed to reports earlier this month that NPHET said it would consider the measure at a meeting last December, and that the Department of Health is preparing a paper on whether such a move would be legal and ethical.
“Are they trying to placate us, sweeten us up before manipulating another situation whereby people are willing to accept mandatory vaccinations for the greater good?” Rachel Whelan, also of the Enough is Enough campaign, said on Saturday.
“We are far from out of the woods on this…. now is the time to unite and say ‘never again’.”
Something bigger
Others remain suspicious about the Government’s announcement for different reasons, namely that it is the precursor to another crisis or a fresh attempt to control citizens.
In Irish channels on the messaging app Telegram, where groups containing thousands of users have organised in opposition to public health measures, initial reports about the easing of restrictions last week were seen as paving the way for something much bigger.
“The population has has been well-prepared for the next crisis, where they push it just a little further,” one user said last Friday morning.
“I’m going for internet shutdown from which will arise total internet control – for our own protection, of course. Just my guess.”
Different theories claimed an economic collapse or the switching off of electricity grids were imminent, and that the easing of restrictions was simply a ruse to stoke up resentment towards the unvaccinated.
“I thought they were just talking about doubling down on the unjabbed?” another user asked. “None of this makes sense.”
Such theories stem from a central belief that the Government has used the pandemic as an encroachment on people’s civil liberties, and will not willingly give people back control.
ISD’s Ciarán O’Connor recalls how one individual, during a small protest outside Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s constituency office earlier this week, described the removal of restrictions as “smoke and mirrors and the illusion of freedom”.
“I don’t know what you say to someone who’s so convinced of these kinds of opinions,” he says.
“To them, it seems that no lifting restrictions seem would be enough; you can see how they’re just reinventing and reshaping narratives to continue the protest movement.
“At the heart of it all, these are people who are just motivated by anti-government and anti-establishment thinking.”
‘Downsizing’ of protests
But although a hardcore element within the anti-lockdown movement remains, O’Connor says their protests are becoming more regionalised.
Another small protest is planned outside Martin’s office next week, and minor events were scheduled to be held in parts of Munster this weekend.
Is still too early to say whether the popularity of Covid sceptic social media pages and groups will wane, but no large events akin to the bigger demonstrations organised at the height of restrictions in the last two years are currently in the pipeline.
Should such events happen but emergency powers lapse and society stays open, anti-lockdown groups may struggle to retain their numbers.
However, O’Connor warns that while the movement may not increase in size, it won’t just disappear once restrictions are gone.
“I don’t think we’ll hit the heights of a couple of thousand people on the streets, as we saw at some points during the pandemic,” he says.
“I think those days, fingers crossed behind us, because we have no restrictions to get people out against.
“But I also don’t think they’re going to go away. They’re built to maintain some form of activity.”
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