THE DUBLIN CONSTITUENCY covers Dublin city, Dún-Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin, so there’s a lot of people to reach. 

There are 19 candidates vying for a European Parliament seat – of which there are definitely three up for grabs.

The fourth Dublin candidate elected could be left in limbo, however, forced to wait to take their seat until UK exits the EU.

There’s been a lot of disquiet during the campaign trail about some candidates being left off the invitation list for some debates, but credit where it’s due, the European Movement Ireland group invited everyone to attend its debate at the Davenport Hotel in Dublin today. 

Perhaps the well-known moderator, Pat Kenny, attracted such high numbers, but a number of candidates who could not attend extended their apologies (Lynn Boylan, Clare Daly and Brian Gillen).

Everyone’s invited

Kenny told the packed-out function room that two candidates, who were invited, failed to RSVP (Ben Gilroy and Tony Louth), and there was one no-show (Gemma O’Doherty). 

Despite this, those who were there participated in a lively discussion on issues such as Donald Trump, Irish defence forces, social media, free speech, immigration, climate change and direct provision. 

Candidates that were present: Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews (though he had to leave early), Green Party Ciarán Cuffe, Fine Gael’s Mark Durkan, Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald, Social Democrats Gary Gannon, Solidarity-People Before Profit’s Rita Harold. Independent Alice Mary Higgins, Independent (founder of the Irish Freedom Party) Hermann Kelly, Independent Aisling McNiffe, Independent Mark Mullan, Independent Éamonn Murphy, the Workers’ Party Éilis Ryan and Labour’s Alex White.

Each candidate began by setting out their stall in two minutes, with Pat Kenny having a challenge on his hands to keep everyone under the clock. 

Roll out the red carpet for Trump?

One thing many of them all agreed on (bar one: Hermann Kelly) is that they wouldn’t welcome US President Donald Trump to Ireland. 

While some used more colourful language, former Justice Minister and Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald was more diplomatic in her approach, stating that while she respected the position of the US president, she wouldn’t particularly welcome Trump visiting Ireland, stating there are “serious questions” about his approach. 

Alice Mary Higgins said she would welcome the opportunity to challenge Trump, while Gary Gannon told the two Fine Gael runners on the panel not to roll out the red carpet to him this time around (we all remember the Michael Noonan, the red carpet and the harpists, right?) One man who said Trump was an “improvement” to US politics was Hermann Kelly, though he added the US president was “not his cup of tea”. 

Unlike some other constituency debates, which focused on the locality’s issues such as insurance costs and broadband, the Dublin debate struck a more worldly tone, with talk of Syria and US-China trade war. 

Two candidates who probably couldn’t be on more opposite sides of the scale talked about the EU – Hermann Kelly said being a member State meant Ireland was slowly losing its neutrality, while Barry Andrews said this election is important as the EU is under threat and needs protecting. 

This narrative largely dominated the discussion today, with many of the candidates voicing very different opinions on a range of issues. 

But Alex White told the crowd that this is what it’s all about, and said he had concerns about debate being stifled. 

Banning people 

He was asked about the recent decision of Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to ban a controversial anti-LGBT figure from speaking in Ireland this month.

Pastor Steven Anderson, who founded a Baptist church in Arizona in the US, was set to deliver a sermon in Dublin on 26 May.

Anderson has engaged in anti-LGBT+ rhetoric and has been the subject of an exclusion order in the UK, as well as a ban from the 26 Schengen area countries in Europe.

On Monday, Minister Flanagan confirmed he had signed the exclusion order banning the preacher. White said:

I am not very comfortable with banning people for what they say.

He added that he was uncomfortable with the ban, but also fundamentally disagreed with what the preacher’s message. 

In the past, “far more dangerous people have been welcomed in Ireland”, he said.

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A Spanish woman asked the candidates what they thought about the use of social media in spreading fake news. 

A number of candidates said they would be worried about social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter policing what people say online, but in the same breath, also had concerns about the lack of regulation.

White said once the likes of Twitter and Facebook begin making political decisions as to who can access their platforms it is worrying, while Éilis Ryan highlighted how Venezuelan accounts on some platforms have been censored. 

Free speech

White said there cannot be “full self-regulation” stating that the State has a role to play, but said all that has to be balanced with free speech.

“People have to be free to say things, including things we don’t like or agree with,” said the former Labour minister, who added that sometimes “my fact is your opinion”. 

Éamonn Murphy, who earlier in the afternoon exercised the room with his views on abortion, said democracy means “entertaining views you don’t always agree with”. 

Immigration was an issue raised by one man in the audience, who questioned the impact foreign aid was having on developing countries. 

Kelly said he didn’t believe there was any “superior race” but said he had an issue with “too many people” who are “unvetted and unqualified” coming into Ireland. 

Ryan said too many of the candidates in the race are “opposed anything that is not ‘Irish’” but the same people are all for cutting taxes for large corporations. She said this is the same line being pursued by the likes of Trump. 

Higgins said the “divide and conquer narrative” will only result in the “large powers benefitting”. 

‘Dog whistle language’

Fitzgerald said diversity and inclusion had to be “at the heart of Europe” adding that there need to be “more legal routes” into Europe for those that want to come here. 

Ciaran Cuffe said people have to be careful of using “dog whistle language” when speaking about immigration, while Alice Mary Higgins said one group of people can’t be “scapegoated”. 

Talk of an EU army also surfaced, with Alice Mary Higgins raising serious concerns that the increased funding Ireland is giving to the EU is going towards armament rather than upskilling and training. 

Last year, Ireland signed up to Pesco, a European defence pact. The plan has raised concerns that it could undermine Ireland’s policy of neutrality.

Some argue Pesco is the first step towards an EU army, with its proposals including inclusion in the European command centre, a network of logistic hubs across Europe and a creation of a European crisis response centre, as well as the joint training of military officers.

Fine Gael’s Mark Durkan said his party’s manifesto states that it is against the establishment of an EU army, while Frances Fitzgerald said Europe has to work together defeat terrorism. 

One audience member, who thanked the candidates for having the courage for putting their name on the ballot paper, said he had questions around climate change and the impact human beings were having. He thinks climate change might be more of a cycle, and worried the issue was being hijacked by politicians. 

The Green Party candidate was keen to talk about the environment, stating that this is the “climate change election”. He said climate change is the “biggest threat” and pointed out that his election posters will be recycled into the likes of garden furniture and sewage pipes.

There was laughter by the candidates, who all have high hopes they won’t find themselves chucked in the bin at the end of next week.

Seven US states have tightened their abortion laws so far this year, including high-profile cases in Alabama and Georgia. Why is this happening now – and could abortion end up being restricted across the US? Or even banned? Sinead O’Carroll, Aoife Barry and Christine Bohan look for answers in the latest episode of The Explainer, our new podcast.

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