GE2024 ge24
THREE FAR-RIGHT political parties and some independent candidates have joined forces to create a new alliance ahead of the general election.
The National Alliance consists of the National Party, Ireland First and The Irish People, as well as a number of independents. The Irish Freedom Party is not part of the alliance.
Supporters are being encouraged to transfer their votes among members in the election, in a bid to elect Ireland’s first far-right TD.
The parties involved share extreme anti-immigration and anti-abortion views.
A statement on its website says the alliance’s mission is “to uphold the principles that put the Irish people and their needs first, standing firm in the battle between globalism and nationalism”.
The website also promotes the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory (more on that below).
The alliance is led by councillor Patrick Quinlan, deputy leader of the National Party; Derek Blighe, president of Ireland First; and Anthony (AJ) Cahill of The Irish People.
Quinlan was elected to Fingal County Council in June, but Blighe and Cahill were unsuccessful in their efforts to get elected earlier this year.
Figures compiled by The Journal found that more than 100 people stood for far-right parties or as far-right independents in the local elections in June.
Of these, five were elected:
All five of the far-right councillors elected in June are running in the general election.
The National Alliance was formed after the local elections, in advance of the general election. Quinlan is the only one of the five currently listed as a member of the alliance but more names are due to be added soon, according to the website.
Quinlan is running for election in Dublin West; Pepper is running in Dublin North-West; Steenson in Dublin Central; McDonnell in Kildare South and Moore in Dublin Mid-West.
The names are well-known in far-right circles, and Pepper and Steenson are regular faces at anti-immigration rallies.
Blighe and Cahill are running under the National Alliance banner – in Cork North-Central and Galway West respectively.
Earlier this month, Blighe was found guilty of threatening and abusive behaviour outside a building that was being prepared as accommodation for asylum seekers.
Fermoy District Court heard that Blighe had eight previous convictions including one for public order. Judge Colm Roberts ordered Blighe to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council.
McDonnell is perhaps best known for comments he made in the run-up to the local elections in June, when he said Irish people were in danger of dying out because Irish women were not “breeding” enough.
“Our women are only breeding 1.5 or 1.6 children. That’s shocking for an Irish woman. We’ve great women and we want them breeding,” he said.
McDonnell later defended the comments, saying he used the word ‘breed’ because he’s from a farming background.
Phrases on the National Alliance’s website include: ‘House the Irish not the world’; ‘Life is Sacred, Life is a Gift. We are 100% Pro-Life’; and ‘End the plantation’.
The website is also critical of certain climate change policies, referring to “climate alarmism” and the “Corporate Green Money-Agenda”.
The ‘end the plantation’ phrase refers to the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy that has gained traction in far-right circles in recent years.
The theory, first popularised by French writer Renaud Camus in 2011, posits that the native (white) people of Europe are being replaced by non-white immigrants, often Arab or African people, and that this is orchestrated by a group of powerful, clandestine elites.
Those who subscribe to the theory see immigrants and their children as an existential threat to the native populations of their adopted home countries.
References to the theory appear on the election leaflets, posters and websites of some far-right candidates including members of the National Alliance.
For a more in-depth explanation of the Great Replacement theory, its history and how it features in Ireland and abroad, visit The Journal’s Knowledge Bank here.
Contains reporting by Shane Raymond and David MacRedmond
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say