Bradley Bytes  – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

A total of 60,652 people voted in the Galway West constituency in last November’s General Election.

Just 450 of them – or less than one percent – voted for Doran McMahon of the Irish Freedom Party.

McMahon was the least popular of all candidates in the field, bar the Independent maverick Patrick Feeney, who earned just 52 votes.

There were nearly as many spoiled votes, as there were McMahon votes – he even lost his deposit.

The Irish Freedom Party’s insular, narrow-minded politics of fear was roundly rejected by a sophisticated electorate.

More than 99% of the people of Galway West who voted last November, saw through the “Ireland belongs to the Irish” bullshit and other ugly slogans.

The same was true in the local election to Galway County Council last year when McMahon was among the ‘also rans’ with just 122 votes in Conamara South.

And yet, watching him march through the city’s streets last Saturday, as part of a so called “national protest” against “mass immigration”, you’d be forgiven for thinking Doran McMahon was the voice of the people, rather than an electoral loser who came second-last out of 16 candidates.

Locals and tourists looked on in disgust as the IFP organiser strutted his stuff through the city centre, with far-right ideologues from Irish People, Dia le hÉireann (Irish Christian Nationalist Party), and the National Party.

They marched from Fr Burke Park to County Hall alongside some vile creatures who shouted hateful abuse and derogatory slogans at Muslim men of colour outside Bank of Ireland on Mainguard Street.

“Allah, Allah, who the f**k is Allah” was one of the nasty chants heard on Mainguard Street; a favourite of Britain’s far Right.

While waving the Irish tricolour, some of these self-professed “patriots” showed their true colours – as bigots.

It was deeply depressing. But there was hope, too.

Galway’s diversity is its strength. For generations, the City of the Tribes has welcomed outsiders in. Almost one in five (19%) of Galway’s residents were born outside of the State.

Ordinary, decent Galwegians – and others who have made this great city their home, and some confused tourists too – were revulsed, and shocked to see a group like this take over the city on one of the busiest Saturdays of the year. But there was comfort in knowing there were fewer than 100 of them.

And of these, only a handful were from Galway. The rest were rent-a-crowd, the usual suspects. None were elected Galway politicians.

Helen Ogbu, Galway’s first black councillor, bravely joined a counter-demonstration.

Well done her. And well-done Galway, for rejecting Doran McMahon and his politics of fear – in the ballot box and on the streets.

Pictured: Galway has rejected the politics of Irish Freedom Party member Doran McMahon, pictured here smiling on the left, wearing a green jumper, in a screenshot from a video of the anti-immigration “National Protest Galway”