Dolores Cahill, the chair of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP), told a large crowd at the Custom House in Dublin yesterday that politicians in favour of lockdown measures will soon be put on trial. The crowd also heard a mixture of conspiracy theories and falsities about COVID-19. Attendees were advised that masks are a threat to people’s health. And that the dangers of the virus have been overstated by governments and the media.
A previous rally at the same location in August was organised by Health Freedom Ireland (HFI) in tandem with German group Querdenken. The latter has links to far-right activists and groups such as Alternative für Deutschland and Holocaust deniers.
No such things as hate crimes
Roughly 500 people turned out for the rally that was organised by the IFP to protest against the lockdown legislation as well as the proposed updating of Ireland’s hate speech laws.
Senator Fiona O’Loughlin has argued that the updated law
provides that a crime may be aggravated by hate if, at the time of committing the offence or immediately before or after doing so, a person displays prejudice and is motivated wholly or partly by racist, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-religious or anti-disability prejudice towards a relevant individual.
But deputy chair of the IFP, Michael Leahy, voiced his disgust at the proposed law during the rally. He described hate crimes as “made up crimes of a spurious nature” which gardaí are forced to concentrate on “rather than dealing with real issues”. He declared that this could culminate in the gardaí becoming “the political arm of an emergent police state”. And the current lockdown, he stated, is possibly a “dry run” for this.
Leahy also spoke of Agenda 2040, which he said involves the government importing up to one million people into Ireland. This is a reference to the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Believers of the theory say there’s a global conspiracy by world leaders to replace white people with migrants from the African continent and the Middle East.
A “pretext”
Hermann Kelly, president of the IFP, also spoke at the rally. He mocked the idea of a lockdown, describing the government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) as “a dangerous gang of COVID monomaniacs”. The government, he proclaimed, is using the pandemic as a “pretext…to grab power”. And it’s doing this to “rob” people of their freedom to work, worship, and see their family.
Kelly went on to call those who support a lockdown, including members of the Dáil, “covidiots”. He claimed that like Oliver Cromwell, the government wants to cancel Christmas.
In recent days the government has announced a relaxation of COVID restrictions for the Christmas period. This includes the opening of gastropubs, restaurants, and places of worship. Members from up to three different households will also be able to meet up.
The IFP president called on the crowd “to get involved politically” and to join his party. He also revealed that the IFP, along with Direct Democracy Ireland (DDI) and Renua, have agreed to merge. Kelly said discussions around the decision had taken place in the last few months. And that the merger was decided upon in order to become “bigger and stronger” as a movement.
Judgement
But some of the more conspiracy-laden comments were made by IFP chair Dolores Cahill.
She claimed that she’s been given messages of support from members of the gardaí and army who are unhappy with the lockdown. And that she’s received death threats as a result of her work.
Cahill, who is a professor in University College Dublin, also told the crowd that “enough is enough” when it comes to the lockdown. She went on to say that masks are dangerous that they can “cause permanent brain damage”.
This is at odds with information from the World Health Organization which recommends their usage in combatting the pandemic.
Cahill asserted that COVID is “seasonal” and “only cause[s] illness and symptoms between December and April”. For this reason she said that politicians and the media who cause harm by supporting and instituting lockdowns could be guilty of genocide.
There have been roughly 400 deaths in Ireland as a result of COVID-19 from June to present.
According to the IFP chair, the pandemic is merely a cover for “tyranny”. Going on, she argued:
What is actually going on is they are trying to get you used to your rights and freedoms being taken away so that your children think it’s normal.
Cahill also revealed that she’s serving as a judge on a tribunal involved in taking cases against world leaders for instituting lockdowns. The quasi-judicial body, she said, will be dealing with these cases as “crimes against humanity”.
Along similar lines she encouraged the crowd to find out where the members of NPHET live in order to “tell them they are a disgrace”.
Bizarrely, Cahill declared that there are plans for other pandemics to be introduced. She informed listeners that a pandemic involving the Plague or Ebola is likely coming, apparently at the behest of world leaders. What’s more, she proclaimed that there’s also a plan to explode a bomb in Rotterdam that “will cut the food supply”. And that the intention is for those in charge to cut off the internet and electricity as well as bringing in martial law to ensure people stay in their homes.
No evidence of any of these claims was forthcoming.
Under investigation
A similar rally was held by HFI in August where Cahill also spoke. There she argued that “We don’t need a lockdown” because there’s an effective treatment for COVID-19 in the form of hydroxychloroquine. Health authorities have warned against its use in treating COVID, saying it can result in organ failure.
During the same rally far-right activists attacked counter-protestors, resulting in one man being hospitalised.
The Beacon contacted the gardaí regarding the latest rally. In response, a spokesperson said gardaí “will continue to investigate any event held in breach of the COVID-19 regulations”. And “in each case” the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will be contacted for guidance.
Featured image via Screenshot
