Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wanted to raise today what some of us might have been looking at in horror, that is, the election of what looks to be a fascist leader in Italy.While the Italian people have had their say and that is their democratic right, it is a sad and dangerous time, especially following on from the recent elections in Sweden. It seems Europe is becoming an increasingly less safe place for our LGBTQ community, and for women and their bodily autonomy.

We know that through her election campaign, Meloni worked hard to hide her political beginnings in a neofascist political party, as well as her admiration and praise for Mussolini, which is on the record. We have seen the rise of the extreme right in a number of European countries, those who seek to enforce their moral codes on everybody else and who believe they and only they are always right, the gay community should have no rights and women should not have bodily autonomy.

We in Ireland must be alert to what is happening throughout the EU. It is alarming that it always seems to be centrist neoliberal political parties that provide the stepping stone for the far right to take power. We have seen it with Victor Orbán in Hungary. He was a member of the EPP group in Europe for years and a blind eye was turned to what he was doing there. Likewise, yesterday, the EPP group congratulate Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, another party that again has facilitated the rise of the far right in Italy. Berlusconi has his own colourful track record from when he was in leadership, and now the EPP expects him to put manners on an actual fascist.

We all need to be vigilant to the rise of the far right. Nobody can be complacent. I send my solidarity, particularly to the LGBT community, who must feel devastated that another country has become a cold home for them.