CV NEWS FEED // The government of Ireland appears to be investigating mixed martial artist Conor McGregor over purported “hate speech.”
These reports surfaced shortly after the country’s most famous athlete took to social media to spread awareness about a violent stabbing in Dublin last week.
As The Daily Wire indicated, Irish “authorities reportedly have since launched an investigation into [McGregor] as part of an inquiry into the dissemination of so-called online hate speech.”
“The investigation comes as Irish officials have reportedly started preparing to pass radical legislation concerning the public speech law, which historically has lacked a consistent definition,” The Daily Wire reported.
In the aftermath of McGregor’s comments, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar came out in support of a law that aims to criminalize the dissemination of “messages and images that stir up hatred and violence.”
“When you think about it, all law, all legislation is about the restriction of freedom,” said Irish Senator Pauline O’Reilly several months ago in support of a similar bill aimed at cracking down on free speech in the country. “Yes, you have rights, but they are restricted for the common good.”
An Algerian immigrant is believed to be behind a brutal knife attack that occurred on Thursday afternoon outside an elementary school. All five stabbing victims were admitted to the hospital and most were reported to have sustained serious injuries.
Three of the victims were young children: a 5-year-old girl, a 5-year-old boy, and a 6-year-old girl.
Following the stabbings, a riot in the city ensued. The Associated Press (AP) reported that it ignited around the time police announced that one of the 5-year-old victims was in critical condition:
Soon after that announcement, at least 100 people took to the streets, some armed with metal bars and covering their faces.
Police said over 400 officers including many in riot gear, were deployed in Dublin city center to contain the unrest, which they said was “caused by a small group of thugs.”
Authorities arrested at least 34 people in connection to the riot.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris denounced the demonstrations as “disgraceful scenes.” The Garda is Ireland’s national police force.
“We have a hooligan faction driven by far right ideology,” Harris claimed.
McGregor, however, was more concerned for the children.
“Innocent children ruthlessly stabbed by a mentally deranged non-national in Dublin, Ireland today,” McGregor wrote on X (formerly Twitter) following the attack.
In the same post, the athlete criticized Harris’ reaction to the riot. “Drew, not good enough,” he wrote:
There is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place, and there has been zero action done to support the public in any way, shape or form with this frightening fact. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Make change or make way. Ireland for the victory.
“God bless those attacked today, we pray,” McGregor concluded.
In the run-up to the stabbing attack, McGregor has been a prominent and frequent critic of mass immigration to his home nation.
“Ireland, we are at war,” he wrote on X Wednesday. In the next few days, his post received over 100,000 “likes.”
Several days earlier, McGregor posted a quotation of Ryan Casey, an Irishman whose longtime girlfriend Ashling Murphy was murdered by a Slovak immigrant last year.
“How can someone come to this country, get social housing, social welfare, not hold down a job of any description and never contribute to society for 10 years?” said Casey in the statement posted by McGregor.
“This is not the country that Ashling and I grew up in and once loved,” Casey pointed out, adding that Ireland “has officially lost its innocence.”
Murphy was only 23 years old at the time of her death. She was an elementary school teacher and an accomplished fiddler who played traditional Irish music. Murphy and Casey were together for six years.
Over the course of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, McGregor has amassed over ten million followers on X – making him the second-most-followed Irish person on the platform. Ireland’s prime minister has under 500,000 followers.
Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin implied that McGregor’s string of critical comments amounted to “essentially inciting hate.”
“There has been many comments I’ve watched online of that type which are absolutely disgraceful,” the politician wrote.
Martin served as prime minister from 2020 to 2022. He was both preceded and succeeded by Varadkar.
McGregor responded to Martin on X Friday, calling him “worthless and spineless.”
“Ryan Casey called you all out last week grieving the love of his life, stolen by pawn scum, and nothing but waffle from you all since,” the fighter wrote:
Zero action! Everything from our lax border with gravy train benefits, to our pitiful mental health services, to our country in flames is ON YOUR WATCH! And still no plan of action!!
Where is our plan of action? What are we going to do to ensure this stops happening? How are we going to ensure this ceases to continue in our country? Ireland is fed up of you and YOUR TYPE.
We are not stopping here until real change is implemented. We need safety. We need security. We need leadership! As of now we have none of the 3. Shame on you and YOUR TYPE.
The Hill reported that in Ireland, “anti-immigration protests started last year after the country created temporary refugee shelters to accommodate 65,000 people.”
McGregor is Catholic and notably traveled to the Vatican for the baptism of his youngest son.
In 2020, he made headlines when he praised the job performance of then-incumbent President Donald Trump.
Widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters in MMA history, McGregor is the first person to ever reign as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion in two weight divisions at the same time. In 2021 alone, he reportedly earned $180 million.
