Those who want to see a new government in Ireland to cut immigration and break ties with globalist elites need to “reach across the Atlantic” and seek help from the Irish diaspora in the US Maga movement Eddie Hobbs told a conference on Saturday.
The audience for the weekend-long IRL Forum in Ashbourne, Co Meath, who had paid €90 each for a two-day pass or €50 a day, numbered 300 to 400 on Saturday morning and included US ambassador to Ireland, Edward Walsh.
Participants in the sessions, which were all moderated by Mr Hobbs, a financial adviser-turned podcaster and campaigner, included Independent Dublin councillor Malachy Steenson, entrepreneur Declan Ganley and Independent senator Sharon Keogan.
The conference was billed as “a solutions-driven public conference” with host Mr Hobbs and guests “speaking on the issues Ireland faces today”.
The sessions heard frequent denunciations of immigration, “globalist” influence on government, the mainstream media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the political establishment.
“We need a new government of patriots, not a government of globalists,” barrister Una McGurk told the meeting.
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Ms McGurk predicted Irish people “will be a minority in our own country” due to the replacement of the native population by immigrants, a popular conspiracy theory among the far-right internationally.
She said that many new arrivals in the country did not believe in abortion, while abortions among the “native white Irish population” were running at 10,000 a year.
Several speakers on Saturday morning warned about the dangers of immigration, which they said was a policy implemented by the Irish Government at the behest of outside influences.
Jana Lunden, founder of an organisation called the Natural Women’s Council, drew loud applause when she demanded that the Government “close the borders”, adding “I say this as an immigrant.”
To applause again, she said Ireland needed to “make it illegal for politicians to have any ties with the World Economic Forum”, a Swiss-based think tank which hosts a conference in Davos every year on global issues..
Several speakers advised people to campaign for change by helping people “awaken” and see the true state of the country. But Mr Steenson said: “What we need unfortunately is another economic crash.”
He condemned Government and Opposition parties alike, saying: “They’re all globalists, including Sinn Féin … They all want to destroy my country.”
Ms Lunden said that “we need to shut the Dáil down … We need to get into Dublin, shut down the streets … We need to do it or the Irish will be extinct. There won’t be an Irish race. It’s gotta happen”.
Mr Ganley advocated lowering taxes to stop the “tax crucifixion of the Irish working person”. He also advocated for small modular nuclear reactors to supply Ireland energy needs, an idea which also drew some applause.
Tracey O’Mahony, a barrister, questioned the independence of the judiciary, because all judges were chosen by the Government, she said.
“The whole system is tainted and until it crumbles from the top down we are not going to see any change,” Ms O’Mahony said.
Judges in Ireland are appointed by the President acting on the advice of the Government. The independent Judicial Appointments Commission, which recommends candidates for the judiciary, began its work last year.
The conference comes weeks after former White House strategist Steve Bannon said he had been helping to form an Irish “national party” as he worked “behind the scenes” on what he described as “the Irish situation”, he said in an interview with Politico news.
Mr Hobbs has featured on Mr Bannon’s War Room podcast. “The mainstream media is the North Korea of Europe,” Mr Hobbs told Mr Bannon when he appeared on his show last June and was asked to explain why there was no major populist right-wing movement in Ireland.
He listed a number of grievances about the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the financial crash and immigration, including contested claims, while also accusing the Irish Government of “high treason”.