Forget U2, Irish musicians are more political than ever

It may seem ridiculous to claim that politics is anything new in Irish songwriting but today's artists are more directly turning the lens on burning issues at home

-  writes Ed Power

Croke Park may be hosting Oasis in August, but it is Omni Park shopping centre in the nearby Dublin suburb of Santry that's having its rock'n'roll moment right now.

It comes courtesy of the video for “Euro-Country”, the new single from Irish countrypop singer Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, aka CMAT, in which the unremarkable complex serves as a warning against the dangers of unfettered greed.

"All the big boys, all the Berties/ All the envelopes, yeah they hurt me," sings Thompson as she twirls through the two-storey building, home to an adjoining 11-screen cinema and Lidl supermarket. She isn't railing against the Omni itself – the shopping centre, which underwent a major expansion at the height of the pre-crash Irish property boom, is an apt stand-in for the bonfire of turbocharged capitalism that swept Ireland during those feverish years, its flames fanned by populist head of government Bertie Ahern. Just so nobody misses the point, she is also wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “Bertie”.

Were CMAT a UK artist, none of this would be remarkable. British songwriters have been taking potshots at prime ministers for decades, from The Beat (“Stand Down Margaret”) to Stormzy (“Fuck the government and fuck Boris”). From an Irish musician, however, lyrics fired at a prominent and still-living politician is something new, exciting, and daring. And Thompson isn’t alone. Amid a housing meltdown, a soaring cost of living crisis, and the march of the far right, Irish music is finding its political voice in a way quite distinct from previous generations. Artists are calling out politicians and parties by name and taking on the racists – a radical break with Irish rock’s history of grand but often empty gesturing (see U2, etc).