‘Polarization crisis’ unfolding in Irish politics due to the influence of social media

TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has said that Irish politics is becoming increasingly polarized with social media making it easy for one side of a story to become “accepted fact in a matter of hours”.

The Fine Gael leader also raised concerns about how wearing masks became a political problem in the United States, with a survey suggesting that supporters of some parties in Ireland are more likely to take the Covid-19 vaccine than others.

Varadkar spoke at a virtual event organized by the Washington Ireland Program, along with US Senator Chris Murphy and Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign manager for US President-elect Joe Biden.

O’Malley referred to a “void” in the conversation in the United States where many engage only with arguments they agree with, and many still will not call Biden president-elect after the election.

“We have a lot of work to do and it will take us all. We cannot resolve from one side to unite the country again to heal from the crisis of the pandemic and the crisis of the polarization of our politics, ”he said.

Varadkar said he is concerned that Irish politics will follow the same path.

“Social media is a big part of it. The wrong end of the stick, an inaccurate story, one side of the story can become an accepted fact and truth in a matter of hours, because things are not mediated, they are simply published on social networks, “he said.

His comments follow increasingly contentious exchanges between fans and members of Fine Gael and Sinn Féin online, including criticism of Varadkar, in recent months.

Earlier this week, the Tánaiste accused Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald On twitter to justify the “internal intimidation of the party”, the “glorification of violence” and “latent homophobia” in response to an interview given by McDonald on radio RTÉ.

That followed an apology from Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley last week for a tweet he sent about two IRA attacks on the British Army, which was criticized by other parties, as well as controversy over another tweet he sent in 2017 about Varadkar. when he was elected. Fine Gael Leader.

Last month, Fine Gael also published a number of videos to his social media accounts with his TDs and senators criticizing Sinn Féin for what he described as a 4 million euro donation “scandal”.

Various TDs from Sinn Féin later criticized some of those posts, with the party’s health spokesperson, David Cullinane accusing Fine Gael to produce “Trump-style attack videos” on his party.

Meanwhile, Varadkar also said he regretted not calling an Easter election and said he believes the Fine Gael party could have done better.

“If that had happened, we would have had the elections after the pandemic and maybe it would have been a little better for me and my party… maybe we would have had a different electoral result and in my opinion one that would have been better for the country. ,” he said.

With reporting by Stephen McDermott.