The impact of populist discourses on elite views, media coverage and public perceptions of Europeanisation in Ireland: a historical overview

This paper analyses the impact of populist discourses on elite views, media coverage and public opinion on key issues regarding Europeanisation in Ireland. Using a historical overview approach, the paper reviews relevant scholarship, policy documents and public opinion research around key stages in the timeline of Ireland’s participation in the European project in the past two decades. We specifically focus on Irish elite discourses, media coverage and public opinion during the European economic crisis (2008-2012), the migration crisis (2013-2016), Brexit (2016-2021) and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis (2020-to date). The analysis focuses on evidence from existing academic literature, policy documents, and data from key surveys (i.e., the Eurobarometer) to examine the impact of anti-EU myths, populist rhetoric and disinformation on Irish media coverage, elite discourses and public perceptions of Europeanisation. Analysing evidence of evolving discourses about the European Union generated by the media-elite-public triangle, our research finds that populist rhetoric, disinformation and anti-EU myths have had a limited impact, but are nonetheless a factor in shaping perceptions of the EU. Populist sentiment in elite and media discourses was particularly impactful in contexts were the public were less informed on particular Europeanisation issues, and where political elites saw opportunities to score points against their opponents nationally. We also found that on issues where there was already a disconnect between elite and media discourses and lay public discourses (e.g., during the economic crisis), populist discourses tended to exacerbate this disconnect. Finally, due to Ireland’s unique position of being traditionally neutral or supportive on most EU-related issues, yet firmly within the Anglophone media sphere, the recent years have seen a more widespread presence of populist discourses and disinformation concerns, especially with the advent of the wave of propaganda and misinformation related to Brexit and the US election, and later, the diversification and intensification of these discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Intriguingly, contrary to scholarship on the emergence of media populism in similar media systems (e.g., in the US or the UK), our analysis finds that the Irish media system largely inhibits populist politics and exclusionary messaging, while populist content predominantly circulates on social media platforms and fringe political websites. The paper provides a uniquely comprehensive analysis of the role of populist ideas and rhetoric in the evolution of Europeanisation discourses in the Irish media-elite-public triangle. Our analysis of the Irish context stems from research conducted in the context of the MEDIATIZED EU project, which examines media discourses on Europeanisation from a cross-country perspective.