One can’t exactly blame the Irish grandmother who spoke to Dublin MEP candidate Philip Dwyer for her sentiments: “I’m here for my children, and I’m here for my grandchildren, and I’m here to keep Ireland’s Ireland for the Irish, and our Celtic race, and our culture, and our traditions, and our Christian, Catholic religion,” she said. “And I do not want Ireland to become an Islam stronghold.” ....

It’s unfair to chalk up Ireland’s anti-immigration movement to the far-right — Ireland, after all, is one of the most liberal countries in the European Union — but the New York Times is not entirely wrong in recognizing the conservative trend of the argument in the most literal sense of that word. What these Irish protesters (and many Americans) want to conserve is the nation, complete with its history, its traditions, and its culture.