Rebels In The Rain

A breakdown of a great round of speeches on a rainy night in Fermoy.

On December 18th just gone, a mid-sized crowd of interested stakeholders and locals gathered at the gates of the park in Fermoy, just over Kent Bridge, to discuss mass migration. The crowd gathered under and around a Gazebo that was set up as the speakers, including yours truly, took their respective turns to man the mic and puc it out to the crowd. The rain kept many people away but also the fact that the topic is seen to most as taboo. Those that turned up were from all over, not just Fermoy, and included sitting TD Mattie McGrath among other Party representatives and leaders. The full political spectrum was represented with well known Cork Socialist Diarmaid O’Cadhla and Traditionalist Derek Blighe in attendance.

The host of the affair was Peter O’Donohue, an old school lefty for the most part with notes of wokist thought but it must be said that Peter’s management of the mic and the event as a whole was superb. From start to finish, even with Peter’s “rules” the entire affair was a mature open mic session with huge respect shown towards the speakers and the host. If you are reading this Peter, I thank and congratulate you on this achievement considering you knew you were going to hear very few opinions that you agreed with and still went ahead anyway and spoke alongside us. In particular your acknowledgement of the lack of debate in this country and the need to address it was refreshing, as was your initiative to host such a thing in the first place as you said yourself, it was “an exercise in democracy”. Granting a platform to a sitting TD in Mattie McGrath, Ireland First leader Derek Blighe and Diarmaid O’Cadhla, in my eyes, is the most refreshing thing I have seen in a long time and I believe this platform should go on the road.

With that said I want to delve into some of the speakers and their contributions. There were only two speakers I took issue with outside the realm of opinion. One man who brought up 9/11 even though the debate was about immigration and another who tried to sneakily suggest that the 39th amendment would solve the immigration crisis, without saying as much. I made sure to put my hand up to speak after the former in order to return the discussion back to the topic that was agreed upon. The rest of the speakers spoke well and articulated their points expertly.

The first speaker was Fianna Fail councillor Willie O’Leary who from the get go you could tell was a genuine man of conviction and totally opposed to the leadership of his party. Willie, who has stood watch outside Abbeyville House alongside the protestors and said on the mic that he was speaking for himself and not Fianna Fail. He described the people involved in the plantation as “worse than the English landlords of decades ago” and that these business owners who profit from the destruction of communities as “Traitors”. He stated that he was proud to stand with the protestors of Fermoy and will continue to do so. This in my opinion is the single bravest speech from an elected government party member to date.

Independent councillor Frank Roche was next and he kept it straightforward and blunt, house the Irish first. Councillor Roche echoed the sentiments of the people of Fermoy and stated that at least two thirds of the town are on our side with almost a third of the town having already signed the petition against the plantation of Fermoy and a further third indicating their wishes or interest to sign it.

Following Frank Roche was Diarmaid O’Cadhla, a seasoned campaigner, gaelgeor and socialist who decried the government’s immigration policies as reckless and spoke of the dangers of open borders. Diarmaid reminded us all that republicans like Fermoy legend Thomas Kent and Liam Lynch fought for a country with a border, not an open border. Diarmaid heavily criticised the governments ignorance and praised the current mass movement against open borders. O’Cadhla said that the Irish are not xenophobic and that we are welcoming, we should always remain welcoming, but we should reject the EU policy of open borders. Diarmaid then also decried the demographic of those coming in as military aged men. He stated that it is not racist to stand up for your own people and closed by saying that the Irish people should have THE say in what happens in this country. The value of a left leaning socialist echoing the traditional stances of Connolly during a time of neo-liberal whitewashing of Connolly’s, and indeed many other socialist’s positions, is immeasurable. Maith an fear.

After Diarmaid we were treated to the first ever appearance of a sitting TD at an anti immigration demonstration in the modern era. Mattie McGrath comfortably straddled the mic and gave an intro as Gaeilge. McGrath made it clear that all TD’s in the area were invited and none replied or showed up. He jibed that Mick Barry “loves a protest” and didn’t show up. He then transitioned into political business and described the chain events that unfolded above in the dail when he tried to hold a debate officially on immigration. He described how the hard, neo-liberal left defended government policy in what he said was a “bizarre situation”. He lambasted the other members of the Dail who failed to turn up for the debate and that at many times during the debate there was no quorum. McGrath went on to describe how he spent his youth selling magazines to raise funds for missionaries in Africa and the far east and now he is called far-right by the establishment. McGrath then applauded the work of the people who have protested outside Abbeyville and promised to hand deliver their petition to Roderic O’Gorman and the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. McGrath closed out his speech with a matter-of-fact claim that the NGO’s have taken over our country and that we should have the freedom and democracy that Liam Lynch, Thomas Kent and Michael Collins fought for. He said that the we must stop the rape of our country by these NGO’s, words which have a very surreal meaning when you take into consideration the explosion of foreign male on native female violence and attacks of late. McGrath swore that he will represent the people so long as he is elected to do so and encouraged questions to be directed to him at the end of the demonstration. McGrath received a hearty round of applause.

Next up we were treated to a lengthy, emotional appeal to the public and the government, from Laura Boyle, a lady who lives just two doors down from the proposed cheap foreign labour camp in Fermoy and one of the driving forces behind the tented protest outside its gates. Laura gave props to all the supporters from near and far and described how many well integrated foreign nationals in the town are fully behind the protest. Laura described in detail her fears for herself and her daughters but also the community as a whole. Laura, who owns her home, described how she feels that if she loses this fight to stop Abbeyville and Fermoy being planted she will be forced to sell her home as she will not live beside such a place. Laura closed out by saying that 56 Irish men in those conditions would be bad news as would 56 monks. Laura invited members of the crowd and her friends up to speak and received a great cheer and applause. My words don’t do Laura’s speech justice and I recommend you watch the video above to fully absorb her words and her emotion. I met Laura after the speech back up at “d’tint” and I can tell you she is a real amazonian warrior.

Laura’s speech was the end of scheduled speakers and the mic was opened to the crowd to volunteer their thoughts.

First up was a man by the name of Frank. He described how the word “politics” can be broken down to mean many ticks/parasites. He described how more foreign men have entered Ireland in two years than what Eisenhower had when he invaded Normandy in World War 2. He described how we are giving away our resources to too many people who have done nothing to earn it. Frank got a great cheer and applause.

Next up was a neighbour of Laura Boyles called Martin Cassidy. He described the process as people trafficking and that it is big business making money off peoples desperation. Martin summarised the entire ordeal as State sponsored human trafficking and that there is no racism involved. His closing words were “the days of leaving your door open are coming to an end”.

Christy Power from Dungarvan followed Martins speech with how warm hearted it made him feel to see people out talking about these matters. He provided a scathing comparison of how the catholics in northern Ireland were burned and shot out of their houses. He described the hatred out of Paul Murphy and Aiden O’Riordan towards Mattie McGrath as unbelievable. He told the crowd about a building the local community have taken a lease on and that we would welcome to hold meetings there if needed. He called for Ireland to tell EU we don’t want their money anymore ( in other words, leave the EU ) and then went on to say that it is the Irish who are being discriminated against and closed by stating that if the Hate Speech law passes we will be under full communist rule.

After Christy, Ted Myers took to the mic and proceeded to call for “Compulsory purchase of vacant homes” as a solution to the housing crisis. He stated foreigners being housed while Irish people are waiting on lists creates “animosity”. Ted then closed his short speech by saying if the government had a good housing policy that it would help. My thoughts on this mans words are probably the same yours reading this, Ted was sneakily advocating for the 39th amendment and the abolition of privte property rights. He got a cursory, respectful, bula bus but the crowd were all looking at each other with their eyes rolled.

The mic was then handed to my personal friend and Ireland First leader Derek Blighe. Derek gave a structured, informative speech about the nature of the migrants who he said are here for welfare and housing. Derek spoke about how the Irish have never travelled the world with their hands out for freebies, that we worked for our lot wherever we went. Derek stated that during his time speaking out he an his family have faced threats and intimidation but that he felt no problem continuing speaking out. Derek described that the fear of name calling and labelling has created a weak political class. Derek asked the crowd are these the people we want representing us?

”NOOOOO” announced the crowd in unison.

Derek told of how he has been called racist for two years and now politicians and community leaders are using the same language and talking points that he did it is ok. A very apt observation. Derek called for the deportation of any person who entered illegally or under false pretences and rounded off a great structured speech by saying that mass deportations must take place.

The man that followed Derek, Michael McCarthy, disappointingly went immediately off topic, and despite Peter’s requests to stay on topic, continued to talk about himself and 9/11.

I felt the need to rectify this derailment with a few words of my own and put up my hand. I had already planned to speak if I was afforded the chance and to be honest, I drove for two hours flat to get to this meeting as I knew I might get a chance to go toe-to-toe with some apologists but none were there. Instead it was my job to bring the problem back into focus. I wont describe what I said id rather you watched it and made your own mind up but I have received widespread approval for my words.

After me came Helen White, an ex Shinner who was ejected from the party for standing up for her homeless constituents in Mitchelstown. Helen called on people to reject Sinn Fein when they come to your doors this election cycle. Ms/Mrs White then also reminded the crowd that people power works and we demonstrated that during the water protests and that the Irish need to march in every town on every street and replicate that energy. Ms/Mrs White then called on the Irish to vote independent.

After Helen White came Des, a local man from Fermoy who moved back from Spain to fight for Irelands future. Des is only twenty years old and the level of belief such a young man has in country was infectious and felt by all of us. Des, Derek, Anthony ( a local legend built like a brick shithouse ) and myself actually stood watch together that night at Abbyville House and I can tell you the spirit of the people in Fermoy is as strong as diamonds. I made some friends for life in that tent.

After Des came Peter’s brother Patrick who highlighted the lack of calls for peace from our governemnt and that the perpetuation of wards is directly linked to immigration. He called for Ireland to call for peace so that people do not leave this countries and pointed the finger at Nato in particular. Sentiments I wholeheartedly agree with.

The last speaker was Thomás McCormick. Thomás expressed to the attendees that he has been raising imigration concerns for near 25 years and that Ireland has only gotten poorer since this all began. Thomás questioned the benefits of immigration, that it does not bring extra houses, it does not bring extra services. Thomás again referenced the patriots of old and what they fought for. Thomás lamented the reduction of what it means to be Irish to materialistic or colonial designs. Thomás then referenced Sean Kelly’s claims that 70% of our laws come from EU and called for Ireland to take back what it means to be Irish. Rapturous applause rang out.

Peter O’Donoghue then took back the mic and wrapped it up. In his closing statements Peter offered his own idea of what it means to be Irish, which is that it should be anyone that is born here, after a moment of brief silence someone muttered “thats your opinion and you’re entitled to it”. This for me was the crowning piece of the whole affair. 90 percent of that crowd is vehemently in opposition to that stance but but we gave Peter the respect he called for at the start and that he himself showed us. Peter then became a little bit more patriotic and called for the people of Ireland to take the debate to the government in every town and city and that if we are not facilitated we must facilitate ourselves and hold our own debates in the public square.

I will ask you to watch the video above in full and form your own opinion. I personally feel Peter, Diarmaid and the other organisers did a great job and their sentiments were largely in line with my own. Their willingness to share a mic with us is something we should all appreciate and in particular, their granting of time to Derek.

A fine display of democratic republicanism overall.

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