Anti-immigration candidates failed in the real world proving online support is no guarantee of success in a general election

Anti-immigration candidate Philip Dwyer. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Ireland’s far-right candidates have often been described as threats to democracy. Clearly, democracy is a far greater threat to them. Because while almost anybody can find a constituency online, extreme anti-immigration activists have found it almost impossible to get any traction in real life general election constituencies.

“Citizen journalists” were left shell-shocked by the scale of their unpopularity this weekend. When reality stings, there is always the fantasy of conspiracy. So of course, very tragic claims that the whole thing was “rigged” abounded online, to a sympathetic audience of American extremists who can’t vote here.