There is something profoundly revealing about the latest opinion polling on the recent wave of protests. According to the Sunday Independent, public sympathy rests far more with the protestors than with the political and media establishment that has so loudly condemned them.
This divergence between elite opinion and popular sentiment should give pause to those inclined to dismiss such demonstrations as unfair, unruly or reactionary. Instead, it points to a widening disconnect in Irish society—one that is economic, cultural and, increasingly, political.