Is Dublin Central on the cusp of having its Sahra Wagenknecht moment?
Just weeks after packing up her office in Brussels anti-imperialist extraordinaire Clare Daly is setting her sights on reviving her domestic political career with a stab at reentering the Oireachtas moshpit once more.
A vocal bête noire of the Europhile establishment during her tenure as an MEP, Daly and her Wexford colleague Mick Wallace did much to unsettle the Irish status quo throughout their time in the European Parliament, earning quite a few international enemies for their anti-Zionist and anti-Atlanticist stances.
While centrist criticism of Daly is par for the course this time around the trade unionist turned politico is taking flak from a new political foe.
The Trotskyist left.
Effectively muscled out of a return to Brussels by vote splitting from PBP’s Bríd Smith Daly’s radio comments this week condemning the flooding of the inner city with single migrant men has put her on notice from many within the hard left.
Indeed, despite being arguably the most sonant left voice of the 2010s Daly has been starting from the pack with regards to the Irish Left since she refused to support regime change against Assad’s Syria, much to the chagrin of many in PBP.
Even Daly’s apparent closeness to Niall Boylan at the RDS during the European election just passed hinted that the socialist firebrand was inching away from the idpol left despite much pro-migration sentiment on her part.
In many respects, Daly is a product of an Irish left that came and went during the George Bush era before being onboarded into supporting American foreign policy by the backdoor during the Obama years. To the quiet ire of many trots she never once lost her anti-imperialist pedigree during the ongoing Ukraine jingoism.
Unlikely to ever formally cut ties from the left, Daly and Wall straying into populist territory raises questions about a repeat of what is currently happening with Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany.
Forging a distinct anti-NATO “tankie” brand of socialism Wagenknecht ejected from the moribund Die Linke party the past 2 years to launch her BSW party.
Hoovering at a respectable 6% level, enough to qualify for Bundestag membership, Wagenknecht is seeking to cleave apart the mainstream German left (radical and social democrat) through migration control and “gas and water” socialism.
An outside chance for a seat on the political road ahead for Daly offers a potential inflection point for the Irish left in general coming at a time when Sinn Féin embarks on a hedging effort on mass migration.
Too edgy for the mainstream left, too normal for radlibs it will be curious to note where Daly fits into the Republic’s new political field.
I remember CD from her time working at Aer Lingus, before she started canvassing around the homes of Swords, Co. Dublin, when she was a county councillor. She later had a stint in Europe, and it seems she developed a strong fascination with Russia. It’s clear she’s more interested in continuing to take money from the Irish public, but hopefully, people will see through her and give her the boot. The only thing she really has going for her is the brief moment of attention she got during the bin dispute. While it gave her some temporary glory, in the end, she wasn’t truly successful, especially as the rest of us continue to pay for our rubbish removal.