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Alison O'Connor: Who is pushing far-right buttons of Irish political representatives?

TD Brid Smith said she was ‘sickened’ by how vulnerable people are being ‘manipulated by the far right’
Alison O'Connor: Who is pushing far-right buttons of Irish political representatives?

Senator Sharon Keogan and Mattie McGrath TD. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

A rather unusual thing happened in the Dáil last Saturday. It wasn’t the historic and smooth ceding of power by a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach to a Fine Gael one. Rather it was a contribution given by an Independent TD who is usually to be heard defending the rights of the dwellers of rural Ireland.

Speeches were being made for the nomination of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach. It came to the turn of the often excitable Tipperary deputy, Mattie McGrath. Things soon took a twist. Deputies can often sound as if they are reading something written by someone else, often someone in their office or party. In this case, Mattie got into the weeds of it on “powerful globalist forces” who are having a “huge” impact on the way this country is being run.

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