Danish MEP says rise of far right in Ireland will only continue

Anders Vistisen was accused of hate speech after he called for the “harmful influence” of Islam to be addressed in an EU debate on violence against women last year

Anders Vistisen, an MEP from the Danish People’s Party in the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament. Picture: Neil Michael.

One of the European Parliament’s far-right politicians says the rise of the far right in Ireland is down to a failure among the “old political classes” here.

Anders Vistisen said the rise of the far right also shows Ireland is now becoming more like Europe, where politicians are increasingly adopting right-wing policies on issues such as immigration.

The MEP from the Danish People’s Party in the Identity and Democracy group in the parliament also warned that not listening to the views of people on the far right in Ireland will only lead to a greater “radicalisation”.

A controversial figure in Europe, Mr Vistisen was accused of hate speech by a group of MEPs after he called for the “harmful influence” of Islam to be addressed in an EU debate on violence against women last year.

He also linked the religion to “many examples of murder and rape in Denmark”.

The 36-year-old Eurosceptic, like his party, believes in controlled immigration and tighter border controls.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner in Strasbourg ahead of the June EU parliamentary elections, Mr Vistisen said: “It is a catalyst if you don't allow debate and if you don't take people's concerns into account.

Extreme views

“People can become more extreme in their view, and they can be pressured towards more extreme points of view.”

On the rise of the Far Right in Ireland, he said: “I think it's a failure of the old political class to take issues, like immigration, seriously.

“Ireland has been an outlier because it never had parties on the right on this spectrum.

“I'm not an expert in Irish politics, but maybe Ireland has been isolated from (the rise of the far right) up to now.

“It seems to have not been a part of Irish politics.

“But that could also just be that Ireland is becoming like the rest of Europe and not so much different than they've been before.”

Asked about the recent spate of violence and arson attacks on potential asylum centres blamed on the Irish Far Right, he said: “I always think violence is wrong.

In my own party, we always had a zero tolerance towards right-wing extremists and we kicked out people very rapidly if they had any tendencies like that.

“I think that's a very important part of being a responsible political party - that you show clearly that you want to work within the framework of a democratic society.

“That is a responsibility also to parties on the right as well as on the left to commit to that because that's the foundation of democracy.”

He dismisses being labelled “far right”.

He said: “It's a label that is normally used by a political opponent to try to disown a point of view that they don't want to or can't counter in a political or rhetorical fashion.”

He was asked about former Danish People's Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl’s description as an anti-Muslim party.

Mr Vistisen said that comment was “taken out of context” and that what his party is concerned about is the “Islamisation of Denmark”.