Comment: Our Irish decency has to prevail
The sight of Conor McGregor standing in the White House briefing room on St Patrick's Day telling an assembled media how Ireland has fallen was nauseating.
The White House was once the most revered seat of power in the world. To be invited into its hallowed halls, Rose Gardens and Oval Office was a privilege granted only to respected world leaders and politicians and indeed the ordinary citizens of America and beyond, recognised for doing extraordinary things.
Today, under Donald Trump's tenure it has become a car showroom (Elon's Teslas), a bear pit where foreign leaders, fighting for their country's very survival, are treated with contempt and set up for a shakedown. St Patrick's Day saw it debased further, turned into a grubby meet-up for a convicted felon and a man found guilty by a jury of raping a woman in a hotel.
“I’ll tell you what, your work ethic is insipring. Your work rate is inspiring,” gushed McGregor (36), who may not have been aware that on one-third of the first 31 days of his second term, Trump played golf, according to the Washington Post.
White House Press secretary and Trump attack parrott, Karoline Leavitt, said the US administration could not think of a “better guest to have with us on St Patrick’s Day”.
We could. In a heartbeat. How about Nikita Hand, who last November was awarded almost €250,000 damages after a High Court jury upheld her civil claim that she was raped by the mixed martial arts fighter in a Dublin hotel in December 2018?
Would Ms Hand not be better suited to stand at that famous briefing room podium and describe how her bravery to come forward and expose predators like McGregor will inspire many more women in a similar situation in Ireland to seek justice?
Wishful thinking? Of course it is, but Conor McGregor is the last person Irish people would wish to speak on their behalf or represent this country on any type of stage. That also goes for the constantly exploding clown’s car that are The Burkes too.
However, we need to be vigilant here, McGregor does represent the views of a sizeable group of people in Ireland who feel immigration and immigrants in this country are the root cause of all evil and to blame for everything that is wrong with Ireland and their own lives. It's these people, in the grotty social media bubbles that feed McGregor -who pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in a Dublin pub in 2019 - the tosh that "Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness" due to the "illegal immigration racket".
Those 'views' are mostly founded on bigotry, racism and a hatred of the other and all wrapped up in a hijacked tricolour and and the banner of 'patriotism'. Those people are idiots and add nothing to any serious conversation concerns people may wish to have about immigration or the governance of this country.
McGregor is making noises about running for the presidency such is the level of entitlement and delusion the former MMA fighter is under. To become a presidential candidate you must be nominated by either not less than 20 members of the Oireachtas or at least four city/county councils. That is never going to happen.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin dismissed McGregor's White House meeting remarks as "wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St Patrick's Day, or the views of the people of Ireland." He is right.
Of course we have numerous societal issues, including immigration that need to be addressed but when it comes to the crunch and the attributes of who we choose to spearhead that fight, the Irish people will pick decency over Trump's useful idiots every time.