It's been very interesting to see how all of the parties have presented themselves to the public in recent times, in particular Fine Gael.
First, Simon Harris comes out with the line that homelessness and asylum seeker immigration are linked.
A few days later, Varadkar says that immigration has increased too quickly in Ireland and just yesterday, Neale Richmond was on Newstalk saying that it should be acceptable to talk about mass immigration, despite issuing work permits for 31,000 people.
Since East Wall in November 2022, I've talked about how we've entered a new phase in Irish politics. Safety valve. At the time, it was the question of who would be able to claim that energy. Would it be Fine Gael under Varadkar, or would it be Independent Ireland or would it be McDowell if he was to do something.
The new FG framing has been "yeah sure, we can talk about it, but we don't want to turn into populists" on this issue. They're using the right as an anchor. We just want to be sensible. Centrist. Sure. While this is a major change from even a couple of years ago (they used to use PBP or the left as an anchor instead) we're facing into a scenario whereby, it is Fine Gael who are the ones who are trying to hijack this energy under Harris.
"We're not like the far right. We're not like the far left. We're sensible, common sense, put money back in your pocket types. The last guy was weird and who normal people disliked, he's gone now. Why wouldn't you vote for us?"
I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks.
