Our public square must reflect all opinions

He is one of the few people that regularly makes me laugh out loud. I first came across Garron while doom-scrolling on YouTube, putting off my bedtime by his daft, over-the-top, expletive-filled criticism of awfully-presented Christmas dinners, bungee jumping and anything the English do in general. My Ukrainian wife immediately became besotted with his viral video clips and broad Ballina accent signing off his posts with “Follow me, I’m delicious”. I must admit when I heard Garron’s singing of Raglan Road, I was besotted too.

So when the man who shouts into the abyss about Americans ruining potatoes while then demonstrating how not to put together an IKEA table was suddenly 'cancelled' over a week ago, I felt this heavy but familiar dread. What had my hero gone and done?

Garron Noone, the Ballina musician and social media personality known for his comedy videos which gathered a huge online following, found himself at the centre of a heated controversy over comments he made on immigration in Ireland. In an unusually long and serious commentary, the influencer who normally just makes funny online clips explaining Irish culture, replied to a request for his opinion on Conor McGregor’s visit to the White House. Garron (I can’t just call him Noone as we’ve bonded remotely over how the UK commits crimes against biscuits) mentioned that people had concerns about immigration and the safety of Irish communities - remarks that quickly sparked a massive backlash across social media, despite his clear denunciation of McGregor.

Though he clarified that he was not anti-immigration and condemned far-right extremism, the critical response was swift and intense. Facing mounting denunciations, Garron deactivated his social media accounts, only to return days later to defend his stance. He admitted he hadn’t been clear enough initially in distancing himself from vitriolic anti-immigration views, such as those of controversial personalities Katie Hopkins and Andrew Tate’s brother Tristan, which the Ballina man was horrified to find had since come out in force to defend his ‘right to free speech’.

Yet, supporters, including well-known Irish media and political figures, rallied behind him, pointing to the toxic nature of online mob pile-ons and the dangers of misinterpreting or deliberately twisting someone’s words. It was indeed heartwarming to see Ballymoney DUP Cllr Darryl Wilson find agreement with Sinn Féin TDs Pádraig MacLochlainn and David Cullinane in thanking Garron for bringing joy to people’s lives while hoping he came back online, knowing he hadn’t “a racist bone in his body”.

The whole affair raises deep questions about online accountability, free speech and Ireland’s evolving discourse on immigration. While many believe Garron was unfairly targeted, others vehemently think he crossed a line. An acting coach I know, originally from Australia but happily settled in Ireland for many years, took to his Facebook page to say that Garron should not have asked “to hear people out who have a problem with immigration” as they were only brainwashed “into thinking a Ukrainian barista or Syrian bus driver is ruining the country”, while he maintained mega-rich power mongers were stealing off us with impunity. Meanwhile, a friend of mine involved in local community development spat down the phone with his disgust of the same people for the same reasons, while also advocating for a free and public exchange of opinions on immigration.

My own belief - and I think one that Garron has come to realise - is that social media is not the public space to discuss immigration or similar societal issues. Genuine debate is not possible here. But it is precisely because it is such a divisive issue that we need to talk about it. Preventing Gerry Adams from 'talking' by having his voice dubbed in BBC and RTE interviews in the 1980s didn’t stop people from supporting him or the Republican movement. Garron was right on this aspect. If McGregor is the only one left championing people’s genuine issues they will agree with him. Donald Trump thus won the US presidency because many people believe he is the only leader who will listen to their woes and also fix illegal immigration.

I know and have met many people in Mayo who have serious concerns and questions over how immigration policy is decided and implemented in their communities by our Government, state agencies and local authority. They are not brainwashed or bad people. Some have taken in Ukrainian refugees, some are Green Party supporters, and some are actually naturalised immigrants themselves. All are terrified of saying anything in public about it for fear of verbal backlash and social ostracisation.

Despite the repeated claims of ‘we must have a national conversation’ on contentious issues during elections, our national media have too often failed to create the platform for fair and honest debate, without descending into ‘bothsidesism’, propaganda, ‘gottcha questions’ and sound-bite seeking badgering of nuanced argument, all sandwiched between commercial breaks. Yet, there have been genuine exceptions.

Eamon Dunphy hosted The Last Word prime-time radio programme on Today FM until 2002. While often maddening and biased, he was rarely boring and always opened his show with “We welcome your comments no matter how acerbic they are”, which I believe he lived up to. He sought to understand his interviewees for our benefit (at least those he respected!) rather than catch them out or browbeat them. This was evident in his chats over soccer with former Loyalist parliamentary leader Billy Hutchinson, but also in his conversations with strongly opinionated guests like Kevin Myers, Lara Marlow, Robert Fisk and outspoken Republican political commentator Cal Thomas. With the programme’s ‘Drunken Politician’ and ‘Navan Man’ sketches often skating delightfully past the limits of good taste, I loved The Last Word for the eclectic and often unpredictable content Dunphy delved into daily. Once he left, I quickly lost interest in the show under his competent but uninteresting and conservative replacement Matt Cooper.

We need to talk about our problems as a society if social media is not the place, and with no more Eamon Dunphys, we must demand entry into an unrestricted ‘public square’ where we can all follow, delicious or otherwise.