Introduction

Polling companies invest a lot of time and energy into creating the impression that they offer certainty about their predictions and yet in many cases they are proved wrong. For example, they failed to predict the momentous decision two years ago in which the British people voted for Brexit and they also failed to predict Donald Trump’s election as President of the USA. Despite these classic failures people still place an inordinate amount of faith in the work of pollsters.

One might believe that the function of polling companies is the noble aim of informing citizens as to what others ‘think’ about certain issues or events but polling companies do much more than that! Many organisations and individuals use polling companies to try to lead public opinion or influence public opinion in a way that suits their own agenda. It is here that we delve into a sinister application of the work of polling companies. It is my opinion that polling companies are very happy to try to engineer survey results to suit the agenda of those who pay them. I am not suggesting they falsify results but pollsters craft surveys in such a way as to downplay one view and accentuate another view to cater for the agenda of whoever is paying for the survey. This is a malevolent force in our democracy.

We often hear comments from people about some survey or other which shows, for example, a 92% support rate for Ireland’s continuing membership of the European Union. This type of nonsense offends me. Written in small print you will invariably see that the poll has been commissioned by the EU or one of its toady organisations of which there are plenty. To use a cliché, “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.

I was prompted to write this piece following a recent ‘Tonight Show’ on TV3. One of the panellists, Lorraine Clifford-Lee (a Fianna Fail Senator),trotted out an unreferenced statistic that Irish people are pro-EU by a large margin. This point is often reiterated in the media by politicians and commentators on various programmes. Now whilst the general observation ‘might’ be true, I believe that support for the EU in Ireland is not as widespread as some believe. Let us not forget we have twice in the recent past voted ‘no’ to EU assimilation referendums and we have suffered close to economic ruination at the hands of our so-called ‘friends’ in the EU.

I think we need to take a deeper look at the‘survey’ that many Euro-Unionists are so happy to quote.

First let us be clear about the origins of the survey. The ‘Tonight Show’ panellist did not specifically refer to a specific survey but it is my opinion that the reference was to a Red C survey published on May 8th 2018[1]. My comments below derive from that opinion.

When people discuss this survey, what you don’t hear is the fact that the survey was commissioned by the European Movement Ireland, an organisation which laughably describes itself on its website as independent. They boast that their current President is none other than Leo Varadkar TD. It has Honorary Presidents listed on its website which include Catherine Day, Ray McSharry, Ruari Quinn and none other than the recently deceased Peter Sutherland. Its Vice Presidents include Michael Martin TD and current Tanaiste Simon Coveney TD.

Frankly I was stunned to read that “European Movement Ireland has a proud tradition that the Taoiseach of the day assumes the presidency of the organisation”[2]. This is a brazen example of the contempt this toady organisation and by association the wider political elite have for the notion of what constitutes “independence”. Can anyone seriously describe this Rogues Gallery of Euro-Unionists as ‘independent’ in the context of polling numbers about the EU? I should hope not.

The sole purpose of the Red C survey is to promote the European Union’s agenda. The survey was commissioned by a devoutly pro-EU body which is funded to an extent by Irish taxpayers[3]. Various logos on their website suggest to me there may also be funding available to this ‘independent’ group via the European Parliament and others. Another example of its independence!

Let us take a look at the questions that were asked of 1,000 “representative” Irish voters.

Survey question: Ireland should remain a part of the EU

This is the headline statistic arising out of this survey of 1,000 people. In the absence of a national debate and the opportunity for both sides of the debate to set out their stalls I would dispute the accuracy of this statistic.It is nothing more than an off the top of the head response to a survey question.

It should not surprise anyone that the survey reveals that a vast majority of respondents believe Ireland should continue to subjugate itself to the will of the EU.

Survey question: Taking everything into consideration, Ireland has on balance benefited from being a member of the EU

How does one define ‘taking everything into consideration’? In the interests of fairness I would like to think the pollsters offered respondents a list of ‘everything they should take into consideration’ but we are not privy to such a list (assuming there was one which I very much doubt).

Interestingly we get no analysis of what the 1,000 respondents think the benefits of EU membership are. And what about the ‘price’ paid by Ireland for the ‘privilege’ of EU membership? Did the pollsters offer an alternative view about perhaps the gigantic bank bailout which will take decades to pay off and which restricts the ability of any Irish government to tackle national priorities such as homelessness or health care? I very much doubt it.

Survey question: Ireland should contribute more to the EU budget to continue to get these benefits

Ireland has been paying into the EU budget since 2014[4] and therefore the financial ‘benefits’ Ireland currently receives (whatever they may be) are derived from Irish taxpayer money in the first place. We do not owe the EU anything for these ‘benefits’.

Under EU rules Ireland is ‘required’ to pay more into the EU and this question cleverly (I would say sneakily) hides that fact under the pretence that we are paying ever more money to maintain unspecified ‘benefits’. This is EU double-speak at its finest.

We must not forget that it is Irish taxes we are talking about. Is there nothing more important that Ireland could spend the funds on than contributing to the EU with zero control over how the contribution is to be spent? Perhaps the money will be spent on buying German or French manufactured weapons for the new EU Army we’ve now joined rather than spent on hospitals or schools for Irish children?

Survey question: Ireland should be part of increased EU defence and security co-operation

Like many of Ireland’s dealings with the EU, things are never quite what they seem. We were told at the time we were forced to vote a second time on the Nice Treaty, that Irish voters had fears over our ‘neutrality’[5]. Following assurances of some sort by the EU that we had nothing to worry about and ignoring earlier mutterings from the likes of Charlie McCreevy about respecting the ‘sovereign decision’ of the people, the quisling Irish government authorised a second referendum. The people went back and voted ‘correctly’ on Nice the second time!

Following the Lisbon Treaty votes and the looming escape of our British cousins from the EU, our euro-Unionist politicians have rushed Ireland into PESCO, the EU’s military wing. What of the media’s role in this scandal? There was barely a whimper. Ireland went from being worried about neutrality to frankly not giving a damn about it in about fifteen years.

In terms of the survey, defence from what, or from whom, is unspecified. Perhaps they mean Russia? In the coldest days of the Cold War and the near hysteria in the eighties about nuclear Armageddon it was NATO that provided the security of the continent against the Russian bear. Ireland never felt the need to sign up to NATO. Now however the bureaucrats in the EU and their acolytes across the continent and here in Ireland have decided the EU needs its own army. A cynic like me can easily predict there may be ‘boots on the ground’ in Libya or Ukraine before you know it and they may be Irish boots. Neutrality indeed!

The idea of ‘security cooperation’ is a bit vague but I have some degree of sympathy with the idea that Ireland may wish to avail of some form of security cooperation. But let us not forget that the EU is talking about security cooperation to protect us from that which the EU has unleashed upon us in the first place, namely Muslim inspired terror on the streets of the EU. It is EU open borders, the relentless pursuit of multiculturalism and a failure to tackle the migrant crisis at source that has led to a horde of humanity from many Muslim countries and other Third World countries swarming to the European Union. It is from within these people that we find the primary security threat that now requires an EU response.

I cannot miss the opportunity to thank the EU and its cronies in Ireland for the security barriers at Grafton Street and Mary Street in Dublin which have now been installed to prevent certain types of attack on our own streets. We reap as we sow!

If ever you wondered about the likelihood of there being a plan for an EU super state –in PESCO we have proof positive. Even Jean Clause Juncker crowed in a tweet about PESCO that “she is awake, the sleeping beauty of the Lisbon Treaty”. This tweet is disgracefully under-reported by a complicit media. Had Irish voters known about this scheme in advance of Lisbon 1 & 2 it may have impacted our vote.

Survey question: Given that the UK has voted to leave, Ireland should also leave the EU

As with an earlier question, pollsters are asking people to respond, apparently off the top of their heads, to a hypothetical question with no detail as to what the options for Ireland outside the EU might be. People are naturally cautious when confronted with the unknown.

This question serves no purpose other than to provide an opportunity to concoct yet another statistic to support those of a pro-EU disposition. It is little more than propaganda to be lapped up by Ireland’s ‘unbiased’ media who fall over themselves to report such ‘proof’ that Irish people want to stay in the EU.

Survey question: The UK should stay in the EU single market and the EU customs union

I’ll go out on a limb here and allege, with the greatest respect to the intelligence of my fellow countrymen (assuming the 1,000 respondents were in fact Irish citizens, residing in Ireland) that precious few of them understand the difference between the single market and the customs union. This is therefore a totally stupid question. Yet again it offers nothing more than an opportunity to show a statistic derived I suspect, from uninformed opinion. It’s as useful as asking someone would you like to win the lottery ‘yes or no’. The difference between the single market and the customs union is arcane and you would have to be a particular kind of egg head to know the difference. For those of an egg-headed disposition the reference attached is a very basic primer[6].

As an aside to this let me add that the European Movement Ireland, in advance of the UK vote on Brexit in April 2016 launched their #phoneafriend voter registration drive to encourage UK voters to vote against Brexit. The idea behind the initiative was to encourage Irish people to stir their British family and friends to vote ‘remain’. This State sponsored (and State funded) intervention in the democratic affairs of a close neighbour is outrageous. It is not surprising that it managed to slip past our quisling media. Their hypocrisy is writ large when you consider they have whined relentlessly about Russian interference in the US Presidential election and yet Irish interference in a UK referendum is sneakily ignored[7]. You couldn’t make this stuff up!

Survey question: The vote by the UK for Brexit makes a united Ireland more likely

The EU is interested in Northern Ireland only in the context that it can be used to thwart the idea of Britain leaving the EU. A united Ireland will never happen whilst being driven by the EU’s jackboot attempt to thwart Brexit.

Survey question: It is important that Irish people have input into the future of Europe debate

I’ve not heard of the ‘future of Europe’ debate before writing this paragraph. Presumably it is some EU funded initiative to promote the EU so I’ll leave it at that. Unsurprisingly 92% feel they want to have some involvement in this initiative which no doubt will attract a huge number of self-important windbags with nothing better to do with their lives than talk pompously to each other whilst not quite grasping the reality that the so-called ‘future of Europe’ will be decided by people in a closed room in complete secrecy in a foreign country.

Our political class will be instructed on their next steps and they will enforce those steps as required (water charges anyone?). That is what awaits us in the ‘future of the European Union’.

Conclusion

I hope I have offered food for thought about the nature of insufferable surveys that ‘surprise’ us with statistics of how pro-EU we are as a Nation. The next time someone quotes you a statistic to support the EU just ask them the question: who paid for the survey? You might be surprised.

Sadly it is human nature to believe statistics from benign sounding organisations headed up by the great and good. In reality these people have ulterior motives and they are not necessarily what they seem.

 

This article was submitted by a National Party member. If you would like to submit an article for publication on the National Party website, follow this link.

[1]http://www.europeanmovement.ie/em-ireland-red-c-poll-2018/

[2]http://www.europeanmovement.ie/governance-and-transparency/

[3]http://www.europeanmovement.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Directors-Report-and-Financial-Statements-for-the-year-ended-31st-December-2016.pdf

[4]https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-contributes-more-money-than-it-gets-to-eu-for-first-time-34815450.html

[5]https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-why-we-voted-no-to-lisbon-26456217.html

[6]https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36083664

[7]http://www.europeanmovement.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Annual-Report-2016-FINAL-PDF.pdf