The Sovereign Voyage: Ireland’s Journey to Far-Right Extremism

Ireland is witnessing a stark rise in far-right extremism. One prime example of this has been the recent spate of attacks against libraries in Ireland.

In the past couple of months of 2023, (specifically pride month) there have been groups radicalizing and protesting against a new curriculum in Irish Secondary Schools for Junior Cycle (1st year to 3rd year students) aged between 12-16 years old. This new SPHE (Social, Physical, Health Education) program includes education about LGBT+ and Gender Studies more information is here.  Groups have been organizing, including the Irish Education Alliance and Ireland First, and are rallying under the banner of “Protect our Children” (similar to Mom’s for Liberty). These groups are accusing the education system of partaking in grooming practices and sexualizing children. 

Members of the Irish far-right have been traveling from county to county targeting LGBTQ+ books that are on display in libraries across Ireland. The Irish Education Alliance has a section on their website encouraging people to protest at their local libraries and borrow LGBTQ+ books. Many have been taking it further and are recording library staff against their will and using offensive language, calling them “groomers”, and “pedophiles” and serving them with “legal notices” as they are accusing staff of aiding in the abuse of children.

Many library staff are starting to feel incredibly unsafe in their work environment and are protesting that the council is not doing enough to protect them. Government agencies are not equipped with the resources and expertise to deal with this growing threat.

The book that is being used as the main example of this ‘dangerous ideology’ is “This Book is Gay” by transgender author Juno Dawson which is described as ‘A funny and pertinent book about being lesbian, bisexual, gay, queer, transgender or just curious - for everybody, no matter their gender or sexuality…’. 

The argument from people like far-right member Andy Heasman, is that these books are promoting pornography and dating apps to children, leading to children being “groomed.” Throwing around the word ‘grooming’ has been seen in the U.S. on a larger scale, the term ‘grooming’ has been weaponized by far-right extremists as early as 1977. It has been revived in the 21st century but is being used in the same manner, to promote the idea that these far-right extremists are trying to ‘protect children.’ 

Despite the alleged aim being to protect children, the facts of the matter show these groups for what they are, agitators and extremists, who do not care about children. If they did, they would not be terrorizing library events in which children are in attendance, as Ross Lahive did in Tralee when he stormed a drag story hour, intimidating both staff and children. Their lack of regard for people and children can also be seen when they enter libraries to rip apart books, shouting and recording staff against their will. Members of these far-right groups have carried out violent acts consistently, this proves that children's safety is their last priority. 

Many of the men and women involved are known from other conspiracy-driven protests such as the anti-vax protests, most notably led by Jana Lunden of the Natural Women's Council and Andy Heasman who is allegedly not allowed to see his children due to his history of violence and criminal convictions.

There are solutions to these growing threats. One thing that can be said about these library protests is that there are a few key names and groups that are consistently popping up. These people are preying on the dissatisfied population and are fueling their anger and targeting it at certain groups. This is a common tactic used by those who spread conspiracy theories and disinformation, they oversimplify events and provide simple solutions to the ‘problems.’ Along with this, they tend to create an ‘us versus them’ narrative, this can be seen in Ireland with the anti-migrant protests that have been occurring over the last 18 months and is now being seen in the library protests as the groups behind the protests are trying to create a distrust in government institutions. Ireland can be seen to be going through another tumultuous change, some problems have been here for many years that are being taken advantage of such as the housing crisis, which is now being blamed on migrants, the Covid-19 pandemic that created a distrust in the government and many recent scandals surrounding other government agencies like RTE (Radió Teilifís Éirean). 

Parallel to this; online radicalizing is growing rapidly - particularly on X (formerly known as Twitter), and essentially is a smear campaign against libraries - At the time of writing when you look up Cork City Library on Twitter an image of two women learning to pole dance is being advertised as an event being held in Cork City library for children, this is the second tweet that comes up and is completely false.

The first protests can be seen as early as March 2023, mainly affecting Cork and Dublin city libraries, most notably on Wednesday, April 26, two protests took place in Dublin, organized by a small group of people demanding that LGBTQ+ books be removed from the children’s section in local libraries. This group comprised members of the Irish Education Alliance, Natural Women’s Council and Parent’s Rights Alliance. Let’s take a look at these groups more closely and what they stand for.

Groups at the Vanguard of the Conflict

The Irish Education Alliance in their own words, “ is a teacher organization that aims to provide oversight in relation to educational matters in Ireland, on behalf of children, parents and teachers. They describe themselves as having, “no political or religious affiliations. We are committed to the protection of children and the welfare of teachers.” Despite claiming not to be religiously affiliated, this does not show through in the protests. In March 2023, they created their Gender Ideology Statement and their Library campaign. They claim that the new SPHE curriculum is exposing children to inappropriate sexual content as well as extreme transgender ideology claiming that it will cause psychological trauma and confusion. As part of this, the Irish Education Alliance highlighted that books with explicit sexual content are being made available to 12-18-year-olds in public libraries, the books in question were part of the “Rainbow Reads” list with the main focus being on “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, (which for the record can now only be read with parental consent so is no longer an ‘issue’ ) they still frequently highlight this book as being a danger to children. The essential aim is to get the books from the “Rainbow Reads'' list banned from public libraries and not accessible to those under 18 years of age. The Library Campaign 2023 is signed by the Natural Women’s Council, Irish Education Alliance, Lawyers for Justice Ireland and Parents Rights Alliance and is a letter that people are encouraged to send to their local council and libraries. As part of this people are also encouraged to go to the library along with steps that they should take to get the books removed. 

Ireland First

The next group of note is Ireland First, Ireland First is a new political party registered in February 2023. Ireland First contains many prominent members of the Irish far-right including the party leader Derek Blighe. Ireland First claims to be a centre-right political party but this is not reflected in their actions which have been prominently far-right leaning. They describe their need for a more confrontational approach to Irish politics. Ireland First’s principles focus on ‘Ireland belonging to the Irish’, meaning their policies are centred on creating an independent 32-county republic with the aim of leaving the European Union. Ireland First explicitly focuses on immigration and homelessness, claiming that a big reason for the housing crisis in Ireland is unchecked migration and as a result is pushing for stricter migration laws. Like the Irish Education Alliance, there is also a focus on children and education, Ireland First is Pro-Life (anti-abortion), and although they claim to not have an anti-transgender stance, they are against gender ideology education and transgender education in schools. Despite their attempt at neutrality, Ireland First has already had scandals since the formation of their party. 

In March 2023, Conor Gallagher from the Irish Times managed to gain access to Ireland First’s Telegram chat in which they uncovered overt racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and calls for violence against refugees. 

Natural Women’s Council of Ireland

The next group in this unholy trinity is the Natural Women’s Council of Ireland, founded by Jana Lunden. Jana Lunden has risen to notoriety on the far-right in Ireland in the past year. The Natural Women’s Council also performs under the banner of protecting children and women’s rights, Lunden is anti-transgender and actively fights against gender ideology. Lunden is part of other conspiracy theories such as vaccine conspiracies and the “globalist agenda of control.” Lunden is also one of the organizers of the recently cancelled “Think Local” festival. This festival was cancelled last minute after a whistleblower uncovered its ties to the far-right and anti-COVID conspiracy theories.  

These are but a few members that have been going around the country of Ireland harassing library staff. Many of these people have a history of violence and engage in outright thuggery. The event of particular note in all this is “The Sovereign Voyage”, which is not as exciting as you might expect. 

Picture of the boat for your viewing pleasure (it flooded multiple times on their journey).

The Sovereign Voyage

Members of these far-right groups carried out a boat tour from Limerick stopping in towns along the way to harass bookshops and libraries, all while carrying their banner that reads, “There are only two genders: male and female” The voyage ended around Co.Longford and they were met with a variety of responses, but for the most part, the Irish public were having none of it. 

Most notably in their first stop in Limerick city, they first held up their banner on the main Street and live-streamed the ‘protest’. The group had recognizable members like Andy Heasman, Alan Sweeney, and Ross Lahive. They were met with a high number of counter-protestors with LGBTQIA+ banners and it wasn’t long before they were run from there. It can be seen in the livestream that they purposely try and rile people up for a reaction, calling them “groomers’ and other insults, in true Limerick fashion when they told one girl that they wouldn’t listen “to a child'' the girl in her 20s replied, “if I’m a child protect me so.”  Despite claiming to not be anti-LGBTQIA+, one of their members can be heard in their livestream claiming he doesn’t agree with gay men and is against homosexuality. 

The Sovereign Voyage group then moved on to Eason’s bookstore in Limerick where it turned out the books they were protesting against were not stocked and therefore they just left. They then headed on to the Limerick City Library 5 minutes before closing but were met by counter-protestors who were in a line in front of the Library’s main entrance, they made no attempt to enter as they were outnumbered. 

They followed a similar pattern throughout their tour with varying degrees of ‘success’, more importantly, to highlight is the level of violence they engaged in along the way. There are at least three events of assault carried out by different members of the Sovereign Voyage. There is video footage of Andy Heasman, who is known for his violence against women, assaulting a woman in Carrick on Shannon, in Carrick on Shannon, Alan Sweeney assaulted multiple people but the main footage going around is him punching a counter-protestor in the face, there have been other footage of him kicking a person's phone into the river. Ross Lahive has previously been charged with assault and was most recently arrested for harassment and carrying a knife, after confronting the Mayor of Cork Councillor McCarthy, he was arrested a second time for failing to turn up to his court date in Cork.  

One major issue flagged on some anti-fascist accounts and in online articles is the slow or lack of response from the Gardaí (Irish Police Force). Many of the libraries being targeted by the far-right group were in contact with the Gardaí beforehand but many experienced little to no support. In Longford, the Gardaí didn’t show up until after a second emergency phone call was made regarding the harassment by the far-right agitators (the far-right members remained in the library for 40 minutes before Gardaí arrived), despite being made aware of this possibly happening. When the Gardaí did show up, there was very little effort made to remove the protestors, once removed from the library, the group remained outside the library shouting at library staff. 

Responses

It seems that most of the work in protecting the libraries and their staff has been local people and groups showing up in force to prevent the far-right members from gaining access to libraries and shops, and for the many counter-protests that were organized on short notice throughout the Sovereign Voyage. These protests are ongoing but so is the counter response by the people. Recently in Cork, where the worst far-right protests have been which on some occasions have even caused the library to close for the safety of their staff, counter-protestors in Cork were inspired by the strong pushback in Limerick and have shown up in even larger numbers to protect the library and its staff. 

Once again, the main focus here is the safety of the public, specifically those working in the library who are being faced with not only uncomfortable but threatening situations. Despite the council's best efforts to prepare their staff and to liaise with the Gardaí, it appears that the Gardaí are simply not taking these violent perpetrators seriously enough. They are slow to respond and in some cases say they aren’t available. When they do show up it is hard to tell who they are protecting and are described as having a ‘soft hand approach’ when it comes to the far-right despite many of the members having numerous previous convictions.

This became even more contentious after members of these far-right groups protested outside the Dáil in Dublin in which there was a strong police presence and 13 arrests. At the protest, they constructed mock gallows which were plastered with pictures of different politicians, and a figure in a suit was hung in effigy. There are videos where you can hear protestors shouting vile abuse at politicians as they enter the Dáil and even block the car park exit to prevent them from leaving. Many notable members of far-right groups mentioned previously were present. Andy Heasmen uploaded a picture of him and other members of the Sovereign Voyage in and around a tank saying, “On our way to Cork library, and then the Dáil.” Ross LaHive and Philip Dwyer were also present at the Dáil protests. There have been debates over the police response outside the Dáil but most notably the public questioned why libraries did not receive even close to this level of support. 

In Summary

The most important takeaway is that people are feeling unsafe in their workplaces. No one should ever feel under threat in their place of work. A positive to come out of this is to see the Irish public response who have come out in force to protect library staff and are fighting the extreme far-right narratives that have been growing in Ireland since the Pandemic. Conspiracies and disinformation are spreading rapidly and need to be taken seriously. These are now turning into real-world violence as seen in “The Sovereign Voyage.”