In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Ministry of Truth was the government department responsible for controlling information, rewriting history and determining what citizens were permitted to regard as true. Orwell’s warning was not that governments would simply lie. Rather, it was that states might one day claim a monopoly on truth itself, deciding which opinions were legitimate and which fell beyond the boundaries of acceptable discourse.
Ireland has not, of course, established an actual Ministry of Truth. Yet in 2026, the Irish government intensified its campaign against what it calls “disinformation”. Budget 2026 allocated €1.1 million to implement the National Counter Disinformation Strategy, funding fact-checking initiatives, media literacy programmes, academic research and public awareness campaigns. Coimisiún na Meán, universities and a range of state-backed organisations have all been enlisted in the effort. The objective, we are told, is noble: to protect democracy from falsehood, manipulation and malicious actors.
Few would object to combating deliberate lies. Yet there is an obvious irony.
Many of the institutions now charged with identifying and suppressing misinformation have themselves spent years promoting highly contested social and political claims as settled truths. Asking them to act as neutral arbiters of truth is rather like asking Pablo Escobar to chair Colombia’s anti-narcotics task force. The issue is not that Escobar lacked expertise. Quite the opposite. He knew the trade intimately because he was one of its principal architects.
The comparison is not intended to equate Irish institutions with criminal enterprises. It is intended to make a simpler point: those who have actively shaped ideological narratives are poorly placed to appoint themselves the nation’s official fact-checkers.
For much of its history, the Irish state largely confined itself to governing. Increasingly, however, it seeks to educate, enlighten and, when necessary, correct its citizens. Across politics, academia, the media and the public sector, a number of assumptions have become so deeply entrenched that questioning them is often treated not as disagreement, but as heresy.
This campaign also arrives at a moment when public trust in political institutions is decreasing. Recent surveys suggest that confidence in politicians and government ministers remains weak and, in some cases, continues to decline. Rather than restoring confidence, there is a risk that state-sponsored truth campaigns will deepen public scepticism by reinforcing the impression that political and cultural elites are seeking to police legitimate debate rather than simply expose falsehoods.
If the government is genuinely serious about combating misinformation, perhaps it should heed Michael Jackson’s advice and start with “the man in the mirror”.
What follows is a list of some of twenty contemporary Ireland’s dominant articles of faith.
- Men and Women Are Essentially the Same: From universities proudly displaying Athena SWAN awards to diversity offices throughout the public sector, the prevailing orthodoxy holds that differences between men and women are overwhelmingly social constructs. Yet biology stubbornly refuses to disappear. Men and women are not interchangeable units, and public policy built upon that assumption is unlikely to reflect reality.
- Gender Is Whatever We Say It Is: Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act enshrined self-identification in law. To suggest that biological sex remains a meaningful category is increasingly regarded as reactionary. Yet many remain unconvinced that subjective identity should override biological reality, particularly in sport, medicine and safeguarding.
- White Privilege Explains Everything: In many universities and DEI programmes, “white privilege” has become a dominant framework for understanding inequality. Critics argue that, while historical injustices are real, reducing social outcomes primarily to race risks replacing one form of racial thinking with another. They contend that this approach often emphasises the West’s historical failings while overlooking its contributions, including democracy, individual liberty, scientific progress and the rule of law.
- Free Speech Must Yield to Emotional Safety: Universities, public bodies and online platforms increasingly prioritise protection from offence. Yet free societies are not built upon freedom from discomfort. They are built upon the freedom to argue, persuade, offend and dissent.
- Biology Must Give Way to Identity: In schools and public institutions, feelings and identities increasingly take precedence over biological facts. Relationships and Sexuality Education frequently places considerable emphasis on gender identity. Critics argue that a society unable to plainly define a man or a woman has entered rather peculiar territory.
- Abortion Is Simply a Matter of Bodily Autonomy: Since the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, abortion has become part of Ireland’s social settlement. Yet the slogan “my body, my choice” leaves unanswered the difficult question of whose body is involved. Critics argue that public debate often overlooks the reality that abortion concerns not one, but two human lives.
- Masculinity Is a Social Problem to Be Managed: Public discourse increasingly treats masculinity as something requiring supervision, correction or reform. Government campaigns often focus on male violence and “toxic masculinity”. Yet most men are neither toxic nor dangerous. They are fathers, husbands, workers and citizens whose contributions remain indispensable.
- Career Is the Supreme Source of Fulfilment: Young Irish women are strongly encouraged to pursue professional success, financial independence and career advancement. These are admirable goals. Yet there is strikingly little enthusiasm among elites for celebrating motherhood, family life and domestic commitment as equally valuable sources of meaning. Many people discover rather late that careers, however rewarding, rarely love them back.
- All Family Structures Are Equally Beneficial: Official Ireland increasingly presents all family arrangements as interchangeable. Most people recognise, however, that while children can thrive in many circumstances, stable households with both a mother and a father remain, where possible, an ideal worth aspiring to.
- Sexual Liberation Has Benefited Society: The sexual revolution undoubtedly expanded individual freedom. Yet critics argue that it also weakened some of the social incentives that encouraged long-term commitment and marriage. They contend that contemporary dating markets have created new challenges for both sexes, particularly for those seeking to form stable families, as long-term monogamous relationships inevitably involve trade-offs between security and the excitement, novelty and variety that characterised earlier stages of romantic life.
- Any Gender Pay Gap Is Evidence of Discrimination: Under Ireland’s gender pay gap legislation, employers are expected to explain differences in average earnings between men and women. Yet men and women do not always make identical educational, occupational and family choices. Career interruptions, working patterns and differing preferences all play a role. Treating every disparity as evidence of sexism risks turning the state into an intrusive auditor of private enterprise. Critics also note that societies encouraging career advancement above family formation often experience declining birth rates or the increasing suicidal rate.
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Makes Demographic Representation the Highest Good: Contemporary DEI initiatives often place considerable emphasis on characteristics such as race, sex and sexual orientation — traits that individuals do not earn or achieve. Critics argue that this elevates group identity above merit, competence and achievement. In few other domains do we insist that outcomes mirror population averages. Professional sport, for example, unapologetically selects for performance rather than demographic representation. The NBA is dominated by exceptionally tall male athletes, many over 7 feet (2.13 metres), because height is advantageous in basketball. Likewise, the world’s highest-paid models are overwhelmingly female because the market places a premium on attributes more commonly found among women. Critics ask why meritocracy is celebrated on the court but viewed with increasing suspicion in the boardroom or the lecture theatre.
- Secularism Means Excluding Religion from Public Life: Contemporary elites often regard religious belief with suspicion while enthusiastically embracing a variety of secular ideologies such as DEI. Critics argue that this creates a double standard and impoverishes public debate.
- Disagreement Is a Form of Hatred: The inflation of terms such as “transphobia”, “homophobia”, “Islamophobia” and “hate speech” has narrowed the boundaries of acceptable debate. To disagree with an idea is increasingly to be accused of fearing, hating or endangering those who hold it. Liberal democracies cannot flourish if dissent itself becomes taboo.
- Any Objection to Mass Immigration Is Racist: Questioning immigration policy in contemporary Ireland often invites accusations of xenophobia. Yet many citizens who support stricter immigration controls do so because of concerns about housing, public services, social cohesion and national identity. A mature democracy should be capable of discussing such matters without immediately resorting to moral denunciation.
- Patriotism Is Slightly Embarrassing: Expressions of national loyalty often make sections of Ireland’s cultural and political elite uneasy. Patriotism is frequently conflated with nationalism, and nationalism with extremism and the far right. Yet democracies depend upon a shared sense of belonging.
- Western Civilisation Is Primarily a Catalogue of Sins: Universities and diversity initiatives increasingly emphasise colonialism, oppression and privilege. Western civilisation undoubtedly has much to answer for. Yet it also produced constitutional government, scientific inquiry, individual liberty and modern democracy—achievements often curiously absent from contemporary critiques.
- Western Culture Is Fundamentally Oppressive: Contemporary discourse often portrays Western societies as uniquely flawed. Yet millions of people continue to migrate to Western countries in search of freedom, prosperity and opportunity. Whatever its shortcomings, Western civilisation compares rather favourably with many of the alternatives.
- Experts Must Not Be Questioned: The Covid years accelerated a tendency already present in public life: trust the experts, follow the science and marginalise dissent. Expertise is indispensable, but experts are fallible and frequently disagree among themselves. Scientific progress depends upon scrutiny and challenge, not unquestioning obedience. The subsequent controversies surrounding Dr Anthony Fauci, including disputes over the origins of Covid-19, congressional investigations into NIH funding of research in Wuhan, and more recent declassified intelligence releases, have only reinforced the importance of transparency and open debate.
- The Public Must Be Protected from Inconvenient Facts: Governments and institutions increasingly justify restricting information on the grounds that it may inflame racism, undermine social cohesion or encourage extremism. This is a profoundly paternalistic view of citizenship. Free people should not require official guardians to determine which facts they are mature enough to hear.
Democracy depends not upon officially approved truths, but upon citizens free to argue, disagree and make up their own minds. The moment governments begin appointing themselves as the custodians of truth, scepticism becomes not merely justified, but necessary.
