COLUMN: Why I’m worried about Ireland after weekend thuggery in country's capital

I remember watching a video on YouTube a while ago and 30 minutes later I was still on the app watching a conspiracy theory clip about how the world is secretly being run by lizards.

There was even “visual evidence” of momentary lapses where the lizards - occupying the skin of well-known TV and media personalities - accidently revealed themselves.

Some of the quotes from those at the protest against lockdown measures in Dublin city centre last Saturday - a demonstration which turned violent - made me feel a little bit like how I felt watching that lizard video; that this is bonkers.

Some people think we live in a super controlled society here in Ireland, run by leading TV personalities, the gardaí, doctors and crooked TDs.

Each of us know a member of An Garda Síochána, we all know that they’re ordinary people doing an extraordinarily brave job.

None of them have an agenda or plan for world domination or to overthrow our Government and keep people in their homes.

Do they make mistakes? Of course! Who doesn’t make mistakes in their jobs? The gardaí all have wives, husbands, families of their own.

The same goes for the doctors and TDs. In a sense, it beggars belief that this even has to be said. We must have one of the most free and accessible societies in the world.

At the minute, we’re in a Level 5 lockdown due to a global health pandemic.

It is how Ireland’s Government has decided to respond to the pandemic.

The Government is made up of democratically elected members, as voted by the people. Restrictions are being implemented, on the advice of Ireland’s leading doctors, to save lives. There is no conspiracy in that, we’re not living through some sort of prologue to George Orwell’s 1984.

The reality is, in Ireland right now, there are a growing amount of people who lack critical thinking and are therefore easily influenced by fallacies on social media.

Too many people believe what they read in the comments section of news articles, rather than the actual verified, corroborated news.

That’s why I’m worried about Ireland right now. That people’s erratic beliefs on some forum online, some group chat, are now manifesting into violence and thuggery on one of the busiest streets in the country. And there doesn’t seem to be a way to stem the tide of these irrational people.

I wonder, if you could sit down the hundreds of those that were on Grafton Street on Saturday, what would be there reason for being there?

A handful may oppose the lockdown and there is understandable anger out there over the public health measures, but endangering the lives of An Garda Síochána and other members of the public, is not the way to “take back” their country.

And who has taken it from them anyway? In the middle of a lockdown, with no non-essential travel permitted, these people were even allowed to protest in the country’s capital.

They were allowed their phone to record the whole show, and they were allowed go online and make wild and scurrilous accusations and spread lies and manipulate videos of what actually happened. People like this have never had so much freedom.

They have too much of it, if I’m being honest. How have we gotten to this point? Why do these people feel they have become so disenfranchised that there is a need to turn to this sort of extremism.

There were hundreds in attendance at the protest and they dispersed incredibly quickly, which could have easily led to a crush situation and injuries, or even loss of life.

The thuggery that went on at the weekend is being perpetrated by people who do not have the best interests of the country at heart.

They have their own beliefs as to what’s “going on” and there is no convincing them otherwise. Facts don’t matter, reality doesn’t seem to matter.