I was listening back to the Echo Chamber podcast this morning, the one with Oliver Callan, in which they discuss the Repeal victory and together they identify the next big movement in Ireland's political revolution forming around the housing crisis.

The housing crisis not only affects the dispossessed and homeless but also the locked out generation who are struggling to get a foothold in the Irish property market.

At one point, while talking about Apple’s plan to build a data centre in Ireland, someone quipped that the reason planning permission takes so long in this country is because we used to be a very corrupt nation and the rules that are in place now are as a result of that.

Whether that’s true or not as a nation we're becoming more adept at demanding accountability. This week’s guilty verdict in the Drumm trial is a prime example of justice however there is a lot more to be done in regulating Irish banks to ensure depositors aren’t left exposed yet again.  

With the introduction of GDPR many would be forgiven for thinking Fianna Fail have exercised their right to be forgotten but we must never forget the Bertie legacy. However accountability for the housing crisis ultimately lies with Fine Gael and trusting them to fix it would be like trusting Ronald McDonald to be your dietician when you need to lose 10lb.

In the aftermath of any revolution there is accountability. The repeal campaign was a grass roots movement and despite the landslide result not one politician has stepped down as a representative of the people.

In one sense the Repeal referendum came too early, if it was launched to coincide with elections we could have gained some serious ground for liberal politics in Ireland. Come the next election we’re now left reminding people about who broke the country, who sold the country, and those who stood in the way of the country.

Voting out the debris is the only way to progress. In March of this year the Irish Examiner printed a list of 32 TD’s who voted against holding a referendum on repealing the eight. They were:
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Bobby Aylward, Sean Barrett, Declan Breathnach, Mary Butler, Jackie Cahill, Sean Canney, Pat Casey, Shane Cassells, Jack Chambers, Michael Collins, John Curran, Michael Fitzmaurice, Peter Fitzpatrick, Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, Noel Grealish, Sean Haughey, Danny Healy-Rae, Michael Healy-Rae, Michael Lowry, Marc MacSharry, Mattie McGrath, John McGuinness, Aindrias Moynihan, Margaret Murphy O’Mahony, Eugene Murphy, Carol Nolan, Kevin O’Keeffe, Frank O’Rourke, Éamon Ó Cuív, Eamon Scanlon, Brendan Smith, and Niamh Symth.

The Irish Times also asked TD’s and Senators what their position on the 8th was and published their replies in a referendum tracker which even retrospectively is useful to see if your TD is representing your views.

Putting all this data together is one way to determine where seats will be lost and challenged in the next election. At the moment there are way more 'No' TDs than there are 'No' seats available. The decent thing for some of these TD's to do would be to step down and let us have byelections. The political revolution did not end with the referendum. Repeal was only the beginning and by the time the next election ends we will have accountability. 

‘The world has gotten too PC’ a phrase often uttered by someone who has just said something racist, something sexist, or just something that’s vile and insulting to fellow man.  Usually they have a leaning towards conservative thinking and this phrase is one of the key warning signs that your friend or loved one has become infected with extremist views, often called ‘Brexitism’.

Recently I had a chat with one of my friends with more traditional values who said he feels there is very little room left for the conservative man in modern Ireland, he elaborated that the conservative way of thinking has become demonised by Marxist liberals who have lead to the erosion of Catholic values and the fabric of western society.

To conservative extremists Hitler was a liberal communist who lead a socialist party. Conservative extremists believe that Europe was founded on a Western principle of Christianity. Conservative extremists believe in conversion therapy. Conservative extremists believe in strict abortion laws. Conservative extremists are xenophobic in nature. Conservative extremists ignore all warnings about climate change. Conservative extremists do not want you thinking freely.

Although I have the greatest respect for someone’s decision to practice their faith I feel a lot less tolerant about people who use their faith as an excuse for conservative extremism. Ireland has a long history but to me it feels like we’re very much an infant country awaking from the slumber of church scandal and government corruption. I feel like we’re heading in the right direction but there is a lot of work to do and this conservative extremism is now the biggest threat to our future, it’s the biggest threat to our democratic republic.

Conservatism extremism isn’t about holding on to the past, or traditional values, although these things are often linked and conservatism in Ireland is often represented by rural accents which creates the perception that rural people are deeply conservative.

I mention this because there is a rural/city divide in this country and as a result there is often a difference of opinion. For instance someone from Boyle might think it’s a great idea to keep the emergency department in Roscommon Hospital open but someone from Rathdown might think it’s a better idea to close down all rural hospitals and build better roads to Dublin.

There are times when progressive ideas are not practical for people’s needs. That’s when people have the right to be conservative about their way of life, and this is how I know there is room for conservative thinking in an all inclusive modern Ireland.  

However when conservative extremism dictates how we teach our children about sexual orientation, and when conservative extremism tells women what they can do with their bodies, and when conservative extremism equates equality with some communist conspiracy involving the Soros foundation that my friend is when you’re no longer someone under threat for having traditional values but someone who has been recognized for their fanatical views, opinions and laws. It is you Ireland has decided it has no place for.
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(Image used is from couple.ie and the views expressed here may not reflect those of the photographer).