It is not often that the PR techniques of the political establishment are made so visible. But the former Fine Gael Minister, Ivan Yates has spelled it out. ‘Smear the bejaysus out of her’ was his advice on how to defeat Catherine Connolly.
Fine Gael is already implementing it. They reckoned they could win the presidency through a transfer arrangement with Fianna Fáil. Two right-wing candidates could gang up on Connolly in media debates. Then they could get one or the other elected on second preferences. With the departure of Gavin, this has fallen apart.
Smearing operates by innuendo, pushing certain conservative buttons to evoke fear. Referring to radical republicanism or red-baiting usually does the trick.
The mainstream media is an ideal space for innuendo. It has a quick turnaround so that the headline of today is forgotten a few days later. It prefers simple binaries such as ‘you are either with the US or Putin’.
Let’s look at some of the techniques.
Guilt by Association: On August 29th, the Irish Times ran a story that Catherine Connolly met Fares al-Shehabi, a supporter of Assad in Syria.
Innuendo: She supported Assad.
Catherine Connolly has said of the Assad regime that it was “an absolute brutal dictatorship in Syria which I abhor”. There is no evidence of her ever supporting the regime. Micheál Martin, on the other hand, met Assad – journalists didn’t grill him over whether he raised issues of torture and human rights abuses.
Of course, Martin met Assad at a time when the Assad regime was collaborating with the CIA, who ran torture sites in Syria. This is the kind of torture that the establishment is perfectly comfortable with. The Fianna Fáil government at that time was aware that rendition flights were passing through Shannon Airport, quite possibly bringing prisoners to another torture site: Guantánamo Bay.
No context: On September 26th, the Irish Examiner ran the headline ‘Academics disagree with Catherine Connolly’s ‘German militarisation’ comments’.
Innuendo: The ‘experts’ show that Connolly is silly to compare the EU to Hitler.
Catherine Connolly was pointing out that Germany is doubling its military budget, aiming to create the largest army in Europe. This is at a time when the Government is assisting the genocide in Gaza and engaging in a brutal crackdown on Palestine solidarity. All of this from a “conventional” right-wing government. To the right of them, the fascist AfD is on the rise, now on 20% of the vote.
Garda Leaks: On October 1st, the Journal ran a headline, ‘Catherine Connolly hired woman convicted of gun crime to work in Leinster House.’ The story came from ‘counter-terrorism Garda’ and was either planted or leaked.
Innuendo: Catherine Connolly is linked with ‘dissident’ republicans.
In reality, she was hiring a well-qualified Irish speaker and refused to veto her employment because of political beliefs or past imprisonment. It is worth mentioning that she was actually recommended first by Fianna Fáiler, Éamon Ó Cuív. The outrage in the media highlights a deep hypocrisy in the liberal establishment that purports to want a rehabilitative justice system, but ignores these basic principles when it is politically expedient.
Faux Outrage: On October 8th, The Irish Independent ran a headline, ‘I’d have to think about it’ – Catherine Connolly responds to a question on whether she would employ a convicted rapist in Áras.’
Innuendo: She might – so she does not really stand up for women’s rights.
This kind of hypothetical question is designed to hang someone out to dry. Connolly ultimately answered no, but if she answered no in that moment, they would draw a moral equivalence between sex crimes and republican violence. Catherine Connolly has pointed out that the FF/FG government refuses to provide enough women’s refuges. There are just over 144 refuges, while Ireland needs nearly 500. Of course Heather Humphreys is never asked about the lack of refuges – instead she is asked what she thinks of Catherine Connolly’s answer!
Bury the Detail: On October 8th, both the Irish Times and Irish Independent ran stories about Catherine Connolly representing banks as a barrister.
Innuendo: She is a hypocrite and helped banks repossess houses.
Yet the Bar Council supported Catherine Connolly’s claim that barristers have a duty to represent any client and published a statement in the obscure Irish Legal News. Their clarification never made the headline of the Irish Independent or Irish Times.
Media Bias
Some people are surprised by the media’s willingness to run such smears. Yet this is to misunderstand how the liberal media works.
High-ranking politicians do not normally contact the media to run or kill a story. Instead, most journalists inhabit a culture of liberalism. This stresses ‘balance’, opposition to ‘extremes’, and defence of ‘democratic values’ and the ‘rule of law’. Rarely is there a critical scrutiny of what these mean.
In the past, the liberal media gave greater space to the left as it supported moves to ‘modernise’ Ireland. In 1990, for example, much of the media was sympathetic to the election of Mary Robinson for President.
But, as they keep telling us, time changes. The liberals of yesteryear have become gung-ho supporters of EU militarisation. Often under the guise of ‘protecting our democratic values from the Russians’. They want even more EU money sent to Ukraine beyond the €165 billion already sent. And despite claims of ‘balance’, there is never a word about EU aid for Palestinian resistance.
Catherine Connolly is a problem for them because she promises to speak truth to power. And that includes the EU ReArm Programme, NATO and the Triple Lock. The Presidency may not have much power, but a head of state with a critical voice is a threat when war clouds gather.
Opportunities for the Left
Today, Heather Humphreys herself took the advice of Ivan Yates and launched another attack – the tired old smear against Paul Murphy. On an RTÉ radio debate, Humphreys said to Connolly:
“You said that you’ve always stood up for women. One of your cheerleaders is Paul Murphy and he certainly didn’t stand up for women when he locked Joan Burton in her car… He terrified her, he kept her trapped in her car.”
This smear has been aimed at Paul Murphy and the Left for over a decade now. The facts are that Paul Murphy and other water charges campaigns were dragged through the courts by the state over the Jobstown protests and accused of falsely imprisoning then Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton. Multiple Gardaí told false stories to back up the state, which were shown to be false by video evidence. Paul Murphy and the other protesters were all found not guilty. The establishment has never got over this fact and is enraged by it even to this day.
It’s not about just the defeat in the courts, however. Behind this particular smear is a deep fear in the establishment – the memory of the mass movement on water charges that shook them to the core. Now they are seeing the Left unite against them around Catherine Connolly’s presidential campaign and they are deeply worried once again. A victory for Connolly would represent a defeat for their rotten politics and a victory for the Left – for the politics of peace and neutrality, Palestine solidarity, and a housing system that looks after the needs of ordinary people over vulture funds and corporate landlords.
Thousands of people have got involved in the campaign for Catherine Connolly over the past few weeks. If she wins, it will be a victory for them. It will also be a major opportunity for the Left to build on a largely symbolic victory, use the energy of the campaign as a springboard after the election, take the fight to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and put them on the ropes.
Watch them pile up the smears over the last two weeks of the campaign.
