An Irish Pro-Life political party has had its most recent video restricted on YouTube without comments or recommendations.
The National Party, An Páirtí Náisiúnta in Irish-Gaelic, has received intense media scrutiny for its strong pro-life and anti-mass immigration positions.
National Party President Justin Barrett claimed there are many cases “where the Big Tech companies have clearly designed policy with a view to changing electoral outcomes.”
He said Ireland’s recent referendum to legalize abortion was no exception. “As a Party intending to take part in the next election here any restriction on our media access on or offline would have a significant effect on the outcome.” He wryly observed that “‘meddling’ is a soft term for what seems to be going on here.”
The party is based on what supporters call the “national idea,” aiming to unify the North with the Irish Republic, as well as the preservation of Ireland’s people and culture. It has experienced a rise in popularity from urban youth to rural farmers, which has made them a target of both the media and Big Tech.
“The National Party had recently published a video which had over 150,000 views over an alleged copyright breach” Barrett observed. “The number of subscribers to our YouTube channel has recently jumped significantly as a result of publicity surrounding that video.”
Their videos show a professional grade of polish for such a young organization. The group tends to feature edited footage of sweeping Irish landscapes, speeches about Irish history, and the testimonies from common people.
YouTube, in restricting their recent video, claimed that “In response to user reports, we have disabled some features, such as comments, sharing, and suggested videos, because this video contains content that may be inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.” Barrett noted he is wary of the situation going forward, “We await whether this is the beginning of a broader attack on our ability to reach the public with our message which it may very well be.”
The video featured a National Party spokesman named Paul O'Hagan speaking at the Derry Cumann Launch in April. His speech explained how he and his compatriots have been seeking reconciliation with Protestants in Northern Ireland to protect the unborn.
He mentioned how The Democratic Unionist Party, the pro-British party that was hostile to Catholics in the past, is more pro-life and conservative than most parties in the Irish Republic. While Irish unity and independence from the UK is the goal, O’Hagan wants to reintegrate his Protestant counterparts via shared conservative values.
He described a past example of his outreach efforts, such as when a Unionists responded by changing their campaign materials to show solidarity with pro-life Catholics, saying “we are your pro-life candidates, standing up for Irish children to be born.”
By contrast, the far more hawkishly anti-British, but also pro-abortion and pro-open borders party Sinn Féin have recently been exposed as donating to violent alt-left group Antifa in 2018 via their bookshop. Former Sinn Féin leader Gerard “Gerry” Adams was also seen posing holding an Antifa flag with supporters in a photo.
O’Hagan drove home the point that lip service to Ireland's culture and independence as a country is a shallow thing without a commitment to Irish people themselves. He specifically prodded those who promote the preservation of the indigenous Gaelic language, without protecting Ireland’s unborn.
“There’s no sense if you say you want the Irish language and the Irish language act if you're gonna start to kill the very unborn children who should be speaking that language.”
