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.
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