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Newly Elected Conservative Senator Attracts Extreme Right?
Read more about: Election Results, Seanad
UPDATE: The following letter was printed in the July 28th edition of The Irish Times denying links with Justin Barrett, and also denying - to the “almost certain knowledge” - his presence at the election centre count. Senator Mullen also denied the same on Newstalk 106 this morning. This to be welcomed. The original post is below.
“Madam, - Your report of Rónán Mullen’s Seanad election victory (The Irish Times, July 27th) claimed that Mr Justin Barrett, “a former Youth Defence spokesman”, was among our supporters at the count centre. This is not true.
Mr Barrett was never part of our campaign and to our almost certain knowledge he was not present at the count. - Yours, etc,
Dr ANDREW O’CONNELL, (Rónán Mullen Campaign Manager), Lucan, Co Dublin.
The error is regretted. - Ed, IT.”
Labour’s Brendan Ryan of Cork lost his seat in the Seanad to Irish Daily Mail columnist Ronan Mullen. Mullen is known to be very right wing in his views, but according to the Irish Times, he seems to have had a known Fascist supporting his campaign. The Irish Times reports that - “At the count his supporters included his parents, sister, nephew, his cousin Michael (a Fine Gael councillor), Prof Binchy and Justin Barrett, a former Youth Defence spokesman.“
In 2002, while a spokesperson for the No To Nice campaign, Justin Barrett attended NPD meetings in Germany and Forza Nuova meetings in Italy and when questioned about this said that he didn’t know they were racist, anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi/Fascist organisations - but this utterance seems so incredible that he was either naive or lying. As Barrett is known for holding views similar to those of the NPD for Foraza Nuovo, I believe the latter to be the case.
Assuming that the Irish Times is correct in its reporting of the presence of Barrett at Mullen’s count, it is interesting to see Mullen nail his colours to the mast so clearly. If Mullen did not invite Barrett to be there, I hope that Barrett was informed he was unwelcome! At any rate, perhaps Mullen will be the new Oliver J Flanagan of the Oireachteas, ranting and raving against the dying of the extreme right-wing light he was so keen on. I hope that is all he will be, and not a rallying call for the small extreme right grouping that exists in this country.
The Irish Times report was incorrect and I believe they will be stating so in due course. I was at the count and Justin Barrett was not there. Nor was he invited to attend by Ronan or any of his campaign team. Ronan Mullen has absolutely no connection with Justin Barrett nor does he wish to have. The Irish Times piece was simply sloppy journalism. Whether it was also malicious is anyone’s guess.
jpb, I was at the count too but unlike you I can’t say for sure who was and wasn’t not there for the entire time. You must have a remarkable bladder.
What a lie! I was at the count for 3 days and Justin Barrett was never there, not even for a minute.
Ronan Mullen has no connection with him. Barrett is a fascist, Mullen is a Christian Democrat who attracted votes from right and left. He wouldn’t have been elected without transferred votes of left wing electors.
Shame on the Irish Times.
Angelo were you in fact there every single minute of the 3 days? Another one with a super bladder, was this an election count or a medical miracle?
In fairness to Mullen he does appear to have some clear water between him and Barrett, and in any event I think its no harm to have a socially conservative voice in the Seanad. However, I look forward to the conversations in the corridors of the Engineering Block between himself and David Norris or Ivana Bacik. I wish I could be there!
And fair dues to you Dan for your tilt at that particular windmill…
This guilt-by-association hysteria can go too far. Given Mullen’s stance on the pro-life issue, and his conservatism generally, it’s fair to assume that Barrett would support him and perhaps even help his campaign. That does not, however, imply any close idealogical link between them. Communists in France supported Chirac when he ran against Le Pen, but that doesn’t make Chirac a Communist, it just means than Communists saw him as the lesser of two evils. If every politican were demonized for having some supporters you wouldn’t invite to dinner, then many of our parties - Sinn Fein and Labour spring to mind - would faced with a crisis.
The following clarification appears in today’s Irish Times:
“Madam, - Your report of Rónán Mullen’s Seanad election victory (The Irish Times, July 27th) claimed that Mr Justin Barrett, “a former Youth Defence spokesman”, was among our supporters at the count centre. This is not true.
Mr Barrett was never part of our campaign and to our almost certain knowledge he was not present at the count. - Yours, etc,
Dr ANDREW O’CONNELL, (Rónán Mullen Campaign Manager), Lucan, Co Dublin.
The error is regretted. - Ed, IT.”
WBS, hmmmm….Dan Quixote has a ring to it.
While I look forward to the debates between Ivana and Ronan from an entertainment viewpoint I think it mirrors a little too much the move to the extremes we have seen in the north. A lot of light and thunder with little hope of illumination.