GARDAÍ GATHERED IN large numbers to monitor an anti-immigration protest on O’Connell St this Thursday. In a testament to the perceived threat posed by the protestors, no fewer than 100 uniformed Gardaí were on duty for the event.

Naturally. Who could forget the events of last November, when we lost a Luas that was one day from retirement (not to mention an unquantifiable amount of dignity)? In the end, 19 arrests were made during Thursday’s demonstration.

While that protest was timed to line up with the return of Dáil Éireann from its summer recess, it also coincided with an RTÉ Investigates documentary Behind The Protests — a 75-minute look at Ireland’s burgeoning far-right movement and the hold it has taken in towns across the country over the last two years. 

In the documentary’s disturbing crescendo, host Barry O’Kelly captures the moment the old Crown Paints building in Coolock is attacked with petrol bombs and a security guard suffers a severe head injury after a six-foot pole was launched at his head — all while staff wait for over an-hour-and-a-half for a meaningful Garda presence to even arrive at the scene. 

To say that the documentary told us what we already know would do it a disservice. Sure, many have been warned for nearly two whole years now that the “Says No” movement is driven by anti-immigrant sentiment rather than their purported concerns about Ireland’s capacity to care for both citizens and international protection applicants. So far, however, this view has perhaps not yet effectively trickled through to the less terminally online amongst us. Instead, let’s say that the investigation told us what we all should already know.

For example, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on Friday said he’d “never seen” some of the footage from the documentary before, and that in light of the revelations, his decision to stand down the Public Order Unit was wrong. Only there were no real revelations! We all watched the escalation in Coolock this summer and scratched our heads raw about why nothing was being done. Apparently there’s no malicious explanation, it’s just that the guy who’s in charge of Ireland’s security hadn’t got a clue what was happening.

Therefore there is value in the national broadcaster producing a documentary which disambiguates this situation and illustrates it for what it is — not least since so much time has been wasted pretending that you can change the attitudes of people gleefully screaming racial slurs, explicitly threatening violence, and spoiling for a fight simply by having a few consultation sessions. 

Behind The Protests does, however, set aside some time for the supposed “reasonable” case for the Says No movements. 

“We don’t have a library, we don’t have any leisure facilities, we don’t have a bank, we don’t have a dentist,” says Kevin Haig, who lives in Wicklow and speaks on behalf of Newtownmountkennedy Says No. A curious point! Did the arrival of asylum seekers result in the disappearance of all those things, or did this lack of amenities, in fact, predate the arrival of people from other places? There is no question that many Irish towns have been shamefully under-resourced for far too long. That is not the fault of the refugees who have arrived here in the last year or two. Ask around, Kevin, maybe one of them is a dentist.

“I think the peaceful protest is now over,” Haig calmly tells Barry O’Kelly, the journalist behind the documentary, who was physically harassed, threatened and pushed by protestors in Newtownmountkennedy. In narration, O’Kelly notes that Gardaí watched on and walked by feet away as both his equipment and his person were interfered with by aggressive demonstrator. 

Filmed for over six months

The contrast exposes a truth that has long been known to anyone who has followed the rhetoric that underpins this movement. The “legitimate concerns” line of attack is incoherent — blaming migrants for problems that predate their presence by years if not decades or using the under-investment as a reason to protest against people and not the decision-makers. Small Irish towns haven’t lost their dentists and their post offices and their banks because of migrants — if anything, these towns are dying because they are underpopulated. 

At this point, anyone who still perceives the people shown rioting in the documentary to have legitimate concerns is at best naive and at worst negligently ignorant, but it doesn’t hurt to have the video proof. With each passing minute of the documentary, the supply of sand that bystanders (a category which often includes the literal guards) can bury their heads in is rapidly depleting. 

Perhaps what is most significant about the documentary, though, is precisely that it was filmed over six months. For six months the situation was left fester and metastasise, ever more toothpaste that can never be put back in the tube. While these protests are usually small, they have plenty of momentum, and the electoral successes seen by some far-right candidates in this year’s local elections are evidence of their impact. 

With all this in mind, it sort of feels like having Alan Shatter on televised debate panels to call for the abolition of the inheritance tax might not be the best use of our time. At one point, Shatter gave the heartbreaking example of someone in possession of a €10,000,000 home who might not pass on quite as much to their children as they could if we decided to simply let the genetic lottery take its course. The tax liability kicks in at €335,000 per inheritor, meaning that whoever inherits the Leinster House bike shelter will pay 33% on the extra thousand euro it cost, assuming it doesn’t appreciate or depreciate significantly over time. 

It’s a cause that evokes about as much sympathy as Kendall Roy crying that he’s the eldest boy, only without the virtuosic thespian value of Jeremy Strong. At one point Shatter’s interlocutor and Prime Time host Miriam O’Callaghan both put it to Shatter that it’s an issue that doesn’t effect 97% of people. 

“You need to beat that point down if you want people to believe what you’re saying,” O’Callaghan told the former Justice Minister, though, in his defence, they were the ones who invited him on the programme. Still, there are at least 336 hours of air to fill across both RTÉ stations each week. They can’t all be winners. 

For the sake of positive reinforcement, however, we should encourage RTÉ to keep hammering on the door and going through the looking glass with Ireland’s far-right. Lest we all inherit something much uglier indeed.