An Unlikely Nationalist...From Ireland

Ireland's Kevin Sharkey

Kevin Sharkey is an unlikely Irish Nationalist. Born of an Irish nurse and a Nigerian father, studying at the time, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. (https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irishvoice/irish-immigration-kevin-sharkey)

Kevin Sharkey was born in Dublin in St. Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home of Navan Road in 1961, but was brought up in Killybegs, County Donegal. His birth father was a Nigerian student at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and his birth mother was of Irish descent.

With no state supports available for single parents at the time, adoption was the societal norm. Kevin was adopted by the Sharkey family at a very young age. As a child he took part in Irish dancing, which won him 37 medals before the age of 12.

In late 2005, Kevin Sharkey announced his intention to take the Irish State to the European Court of Human Rights, in order to force the recognition of same-sex partnerships, specifically civil partnerships. Sharkey cited personal reasons for this, decrying the fact that if he were to marry his long-term male partner Ade Antigha in Spain (where the two were living at the time), the marriage would not be recognized by Irish law. Ireland since legalized Civil Partnerships in 2011 and Same-Sex Marriage in 2015.

His life has not been without its struggles, both personal and financial. In the summer of 2016, struggling again with his finances, Sharkey briefly became homeless while living in Dublin.

Today he is Senior Vice President and Executive Editorial Director, Decorating, and Executive Creative Director, Merchandising for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MSLO).

Sharkey’s key issue in the contest is immigration into Ireland, but not in the way many might expect. Despite being a child of an immigrant and black father Sharkey is calling for less immigration, not more, stating that Ireland must put Irish people first.

In that regard, he echoes Donald Trump and his “Put America First” platform, but Sharkey is also providing the first major challenge on the issue of who gets to immigrate to Ireland.

Currently some 115,000 immigrants are entering Ireland annually, many from Third World countries wracked with war and turmoil. They arrive with language, education and placement problems that has overwhelmed Ireland at times.

The total foreign-born population of Ireland is now 12 percent, approximately the same as America’s numbers. For a country far better known for emigration, the immigrant influx has proven a difficult issue. Worse still, these new arivals come at a time when Ireland is still repaying huge loans to Europe from the financial bailout.

A general lack of housing, and access to medical care are just two huge issues the country is grappling with.

So, with his anti-immigrant tone, Sharkey is articulating what many Irish seem to be thinking but fear to voicing, out of concerns over being called “racist.”

Many of Kevin Sharkey’s quotes sound close to those of Trump’s; "If we don't protect our future, if we don't protect what we have, what has made us Irish, we won't be Irish in 200 years.”

"I'm not against immigration. Look at Australia. They have a beautiful system there. If you are contributing, if you have a trade that we need and you can support yourself you are welcome.”

He’s added, “Ireland is being repopulated and it doesn't seem to matter to the powers that be who is coming.”

He calls for 'open dialogue' on immigration. (FULL INTERVIEW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7r8WhmzlSs)

As for Sharkey, he notes, that there’s a belief among many in Ireland that the Irish themselves are being left behind. Sharkey stated that in running for president, “I'd hope to bring an awareness to the fact that in Ireland we seem to have shifted away a little bit from looking after the Irish first.”

Ireland, he says, has "fallen into this politically correct speech and people are censoring themselves when they really should be able to have an honest dialogue."

Kevin Sharkey is right.

It’d be good...from a Nationalist viewpoint to see Kevin Sharkey shock Michael Higgins (the favorite) in Ireland’s Presidential election later this year.