The people of Drogheda stayed away in their droves from the rally organised by the Irish Freedom Party outside the Scotch Hall Shopping centre yesterday.
Many were afraid it would end in violence as has happened at other protests about the housing of asylum seekers around the country but thankfully that didn’t happen in Drogheda.
Others just didn’t want to be associated with the ultra-right wing party whose rallies have led to trouble in the past. Some shopkeepers weren’t taking any chances and closed their businesses for the day.
The general consensus was that there were about 300 to 350 people in attendance altogether but the vast majority of them were from outside of Drogheda. Certainly there were very few familiar faces in the crowd – one Drogheda based Garda I spoke to put the number at less than a dozen.
The IFF revolves around its founder and leader Hermann Kelly who was the main speaker yesterday. Kelly is known for his anti- immigrant ethos and there was nothing new in his comments on that topic yesterday. If you really want to know more about Kelly and his IFF policies you can see their website irishfreedom.ie
“We stand for free speech” said Mr Kelly, who used to work in a media role for Nigel Farage in the European Parliament. However, during the two hour long meeting several party supporters in the crowd repeatedly harassed journalists going about their work.
“We are opposed to big state authoritarianism we are against everything about fascism which is the amalgamation of big corporations and the big state what we are is in favour of is a free Ireland which stands for sovereignty not subservience” Kelly continued.
Kelly may be in favour of free speech but not, it seems, equality for people with a different point of view than his. He finds it difficult to hide his personal anti-gay feelings and is on the record as making outrageously homophobic remarks.
He strayed into that territory again yesterday saying: “All this transgender, intersexual gender climate alarmist bullshit we do not believe in that transgender ideology but we do believe in biology, that’s why we’re advocating people to vote No, No on March 8.
“The foundation of Irish society is the family, a Mammy and Daddy that have children and who they educate in Irish culture.”
The IFF has announced that they will have two Drogheda candidates running in the upcoming local elections – Alan Fagan in Drogheda Urban and Patrice Johnson in Drogheda Rural.
Mr. Kelly urged his audience to vote for Fagan and Johnson but, it has to be said, the reality is that their chances of being elected are slim as the IFF has never yet had any party representatives elected anywhere in the country.
