Ireland is one of the few remaining European countries that does not have a notable far right political presence. Protests, some of them violent, against asylum seekers and immigration, LGBTQI+ education for young people, and even access to abortion, suggests that Irish exceptionalism in this regard may be in jeopardy. Such an eventuality threatens hard won progress on reducing inequalities for many of the groups affected, with the danger of these ideas becoming increasingly mainstream. This project seeks to test the level of mainstreaming of far right ideas during the upcoming electoral cycle beginning on June 9, 2024 with the local and European elections in four ways.
1. Profiling content of discussions on key social media platforms on ethnic, sexual, gender and class inequalities during electoral periods
2. Identifying and evaluating discourse on these inequalities in far right and established party electoral campaign material, online and offline.
3. Assessing the content of this electoral campaigning material on the identified inequalities among populations affected by these inequalities.
4. Drawing policy conclusions from the above-mentioned project activities and findings on how best to further equality agendas for these groups, including how to deal with the far right challenge.
To achieve these objectives we will use mixed methods research techniques, both quantitative and qualitative, including quantitative discourse analysis on social media exchanges in platforms favoured by the far right, such as Telegram, X and
Facebook; on far right electoral material including manifestos; and on established party electoral manifestos. Additionally, we will carry out focus groups among activists drawn from ethnic minorities LGBTQI+ groups and working class communities, as well as elite interviews with leaders from these groups. Policy recommendations elicited from these groups during focus
groups and interviews will contribute, additionally, to the realisation of objective 4.
Total Grant: €219,760.42
Lancaster Part - Aaron Winter, Consultancy: €9,812.32
Ireland is one of the few remaining European countries that does not have a notable far right political presence. Protests, some violent, against asylum seekers and immigration, LGBTQI+ education for young people, and even access to abortion, suggests that Irish exceptionalism in this regard may be in jeopardy. This project, however, argues that the real issue at stake is how best to reduce inequalities, of ethnicity, gender, sexual and class. We argue that the far right project is to roll back recent equalising progress and reassert hierarchy in many of these areas. The question then, is not, “Is Ireland’s exceptionalism ending?” but rather, “Are far right ideas - around gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity and class inequality -exceptional in Irish politics?” More specifically, if the answer to the latter question is no, then the real question to be asked is: How can gender, sexual, race and class inequalities be reduced sufficiently to end far right growth in Ireland and ensure equality for all? This project seeks to explore this question in the context of the upcoming electoral cycle in Ireland, beginning on June 9, 2024 with the local and European elections, by asking activist citizens from these groups to review and critique party political policy on all these inequalities, as expressed in their manifestos and electoral literature. Moreover, we will capture and interrogate social media discourse during the same electoral periods to help measure the impact of party political electoral discourse on these inequalities among social media users. The ultimate aim is to assess the extent to which far right positioning on these inequalities is shared, omitted or rejected across the political spectrum during the electoral period and to seek ways to ensure that Ireland continues to strive towards a more equal society for all regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity or class position.
Total Grant: €219,760.42
Lancaster Part - Aaron Winter, Consultancy: €9,812.32
