For Ireland’s progressive government, transgenderism and other “LGBTQ+” talking points have become central elements within modern St Patrick’s day celebrations.
“Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone. It’s with O’Leary in the grave.” So says, William Butler Yeats, one of the greatest artistic minds my country has ever produced. The line comes from a poem titled “September 1913”, a work that mourns the degradation of Ireland as the island slowly but surely became wealthier. At a time when many living on the island were finally starting to see some sense of financial prosperity, Yeats felt that they were becoming less and less like the heroic souls who came before them, and perhaps more and more like their then-fellow subjects living in Britain.
If Yeats found the Irish of the early 20th century of questionable character, he would surely find those of the early 21st completely unrecognisable. Though Ireland is now an independent nation-state, its politicians have largely lost interest in the national question.
The political class of the legendary poet’s period largely occupied itself with the independence of Ireland, fighting tooth and nail in order to establish a sovereign republic with complete control of every corner of the island.
Such political ambitions have long since been cast aside though, with the modern Irish elite more concerned with pushing progressive values onto the rest of the world, whether they like it or not. It has used its minor position on the world stage to push left-wing ideology, bolstering those who support progressivism and lashing out at those who don’t, frequently using its very identity as a currency to achieve these aims.
Like almost every other aspect of Irish culture, heritage and history, St Patrick’s Day has become just another weapon with which the island’s political class can further this progressive agenda.
Ireland’s current progressive obsession is that of transgenderism. Ministers across all of the government parties have adopted the view that the tenants of gender ideology must be taught as fact within the country’s elementary and high schools.
Understandably, this has not only greatly upset many parents in the country, but a number of schooling and religious associations on the island to boot. Amid talk that children in Ireland would soon be told that they would be able to change gender, the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) — a body representing 89 per cent of the country’s elementary schools — came out to denounce the plan, arguing that there was “no scientific or medical consensus” for such gender ideology.
The group was soon joined by the Irish Muslim Council, which also attacked the measures for being “not appropriate” for school children, backing the claim that there is “a lack of scientific consensus” about the issue.
None of this appears to have dissuaded politicians in the country though, with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, along with a host of other ministers, coming out to vocally back teaching transgenderism to children in response to the CPSMA’s criticisms.
“Trans people exist, they’ve always existed, and I think it makes more sense in schools to just inform children about the world around them,” Varadkar claimed in response to the widespread backlash against his agenda.
Meanwhile, sitting Minister for Justice Simon Harris insisted that the gender ideology was necessary as it was simply teaching kids about the “facts” and the “science”, despite multiple organisations saying that experts have yet to come to any scientific consensus on transgenderism.
Such a hardline progressive mentality — often buttressed by farfetched claims about “facts” and “science” — has well and truly leaked into Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations. Although authorities in the United States will likely be spared the most sanctimonious of the progressive preaching, with the issue of Brexit and Northern Ireland instead expected to take centre stage this year, the island itself is nevertheless due to celebrate an LGBTQ+ St Patrick’s Day.
Progressive ideology has been front and centre in the state’s plans for Paddy’s Day. Official Ireland has been forthright in describing the holiday as being about promoting “diversity” and “inclusivity” rather than any notion of religion or nationhood, with the government rolling out drag queens and foreign dance groups.
The state even went so far as to host an LGBTQ+ St Patrick’s festival on Thursday night, converting Collins Barracks — a former British military instillation in the country’s capital of Dublin — into a venue.
According to the official Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day website, the event starred drag queens, cabaret artists and “performers from across the LGBTQ+ community”. It even sported a progressive version of a céilí, Ireland’s traditional kind of dancing and folk music gathering that has been held in the country for hundreds of years.
Described as a gay-lee by the organisers, the event reportedly included, of course, an “army of drag performers”.
Pushing transgender politics on Ireland isn’t for just one day a year, however. With Paddy’s Day soon to be behind us, the government is already reportedly moving on other initiatives to promote left-wing causes.
Proving that nothing is sacred to those currently in power, the government has announced that it will even attempt to change the country’s constitution this year in the hopes that rewriting it will put it more in line with modern progressive ideals.
The document — admittedly a shadow of its original self due to previous government-sponsored meddling — has been deemed to be “outdated and sexist” by activists within state-funded NGOs. While there have been many parts that such state-funded non-state entities have balked over, the most offensive line in the document right now is the one mandating that the government must protect a woman’s ability to be a stay-at-home caregiver if she so choses. The government has now announced that a referendum will be held on removing this clause later this year.