A report by the Hope and Courage Collective, which works to build resilience in communities against rising far-right hate and disinformation, has found a widening gap between public attitudes and political discourse.<\/p>\n
The report, ‘Ireland in Focus 2025, Mind the Gap’, shows that a relatively small number of far-right actors disproportionately influence public debate through online amplification, visible protests, and repeated narratives.<\/p>\n
It says public attitudes are becoming steadily more inclusive, but that political rhetoric risks legitimising scapegoating and that the far-right had not secured broad public support, but “is shaping the conversation.<\/p>\n
The report found that multiple communities in Ireland had been systematically targeted by far-right and anti-immigrant hostility and that people seeking asylum, ethnic minorities and migrants, had been among the most consistently targeted”.<\/p>\n
LGBTI+ communities have experienced hostility contributing to a climate where violence is normalised” and women have consistently been in focus, because far-right narratives often position themselves as ‘protecting women’.<\/p>\n
Workers and public services have also been “drawn into the line of fire” it says.<\/p>\n
Public representatives threatened<\/p>\n
Civil society organisations have increasingly been framed as a threat, and politicians and public representatives and have been subject to escalating harassment and intimidation.<\/p>\n
The report has identified a strategic shift in messaging from system-focused narratives such as “Ireland is full” toward more explicit identity-based claims like “Irish Lives Matter.”<\/p>\n
It says newer grievance-driven narratives are being deployed to sustain mobilisation in the absence of widespread support.<\/p>\n
Symbolic actions, including the appropriation of national symbols like the Irish tricolour, have been used to project a sense of momentum beyond the movement\u2019s actual size.<\/p>\n
The findings draw on nationally representative survey data and real-time analysis.<\/p>\n
Year-on-year datasets tracking changes in public sentiment in Ireland between 2024 and 2025 show that 66% agree that immigrants contribute positively to Irish culture and community, which is up 2% up from 64% in 2024.<\/p>\n
79% believe working-class people are struggling due to systemic inequality which is also up 2% from 77% in 2024.<\/p>\n
Those who believe wealthy people are successful because they were given more opportunities than others has risen from 63% in 2024 to 69% in 2025.<\/p>\n
The number of people who support the freedom of transgender people to live their lives is up 5% up from 70% in 2024.<\/p>\n
80% agree that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities face greater barriers to success than white people, up 5% up from 75% in 2024.<\/p>\n
Solutions, without fear, violence, or scapegoating<\/p>\n
The report shows that the majority of people reject far-right narratives, and have real empathy and support across a range of issues according to Executive Director of Hope and Courage Collective Edel McGinley.<\/p>\n
“This report tells a very different story than the one we have been fed for the past few years. People just want leadership that brings solutions, without fear, violence, or scapegoating,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms McGinley added that the report tells a very different story “than the one we have been fed for the past few years”.<\/p>\n
“It tells us that people just want leadership that brings solutions, without fear, violence, or scapegoating”.<\/p>\n
She stressed “the power of community” and how people from all walks of life have shown up in small and big ways to counter hate.<\/p>\n
“The responses documented demonstrate just how much far-right influence is contested. It shows communities across Ireland are actively building inclusive, resilient, and welcoming places and are stepping up during moments of crisis”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A report by the Hope and Courage Collective, which works to build resilience in communities against rising far-right…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-424438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}