‘We want to put common sense into Irish politics’: inside Ireland’s new populist party

00:00 08:41

Joanna Bell has narrated this article for you to listen to.

When the Taoiseach Simon Harris called a snap election for 29 November, Ireland’s electricity board asked political parties not to put election posters on telegraph poles. They might as well have asked them to take the time off on holiday. As I drive through the Irish countryside on my way to County Cork, I notice plenty of posters on poles, but the usual suspects – Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein and Labour – are now joined by a new force in Irish politics – a grouping dedicated to a punchier, more populist, anti-immigration and pro-family agenda.

‘Irish politics is different to British politics and American politics, which are very much driven by social media’

The newly established Independent Ireland party, which already holds three seats in the Dail and is on course for more, has grown out of a looser grouping of independent Teachtai Dala (TDs) who were united in opposition to the liberal Dublin consensus. Their leader, Michael Collins, bears the name of the Irish revolutionary hero and has an appropriate pugnacity to match.

I arrive in the West Cork town of Skibbereen (pop. 3,000 in low season) as the mist is rising over the River Illen. Skibbereen is where Collins’s constituency office is based. It is also home to the actor Jeremy Irons and the film producer Lord Puttnam. ‘I often see Lord Puttnam going around fields with his trolley,’ one local tells me. ‘Has he finally lost his marbles?’ I ask. ‘No, Fields is a supermarket,’ comes the reply.

A recent Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll predicted a record number of Independents in the next Dail. So, good news for Collins. He gave a controversial interview to Hot Press Magazine in April in which he said he wanted to ban the burka, put immigrants in holding cells, legalise prostitution and ban abortion.