I always bothers me when people overpraise Ireland for things like this. Sure we were the OG settler colony and have a national identity rooted in colonial oppression. However the Irish state is a neoliberal glorified aircraft carrier and money laundry for imperialist capital. It is not a “functional democratic system”. It’s one of the few countries in the world that denies its citizens a right to vote based on whether they are currently living in the state. Crises are everywhere. Healthcare, Housing, Education, Policing… the same stories in most of the west right now.

All of the government parties support the genocide in deed if not in word. Ireland has done nothing real to protest, even the Israeli ambassador is still in the country despite repeatedly debasing herself as an extremist hate filled bigot on national tv. Even the incumbent party, Sinn Féin, which historically is rooted in national struggle, is succumbing to the forces of capital that just demonstrate the limits of bourgeois democracy. They visited Biden on St Patrick’s day and toed the line.

This win is from grassroots young people. People whose futures have been sold out by older generations and have little to lose. Far right racism is on the rise as immigration is increased by the neoliberal government. Generations are lost due to the housing crisis which is the worst in Europe. Our democracy is as bad as yours, just a little less developed.