Conor McGregor Announces Run for Irish Presidency on Anti-Immigration Platform

Conor McGregor will run for the Irish presidency in elections later this year, the controversial former fighter said on Thursday, as he announced his candidacy for the largely ceremonial role on an anti-immigration stance.

McGregor, who in recent years has emerged as a figurehead for the far-right in Ireland, said on social media that he would run for president to oppose a long-awaited new European Union migration pact aimed at sharing the burden of processing asylum claims more evenly across the bloc.

“Who else will stand up to Government and oppose this bill?” he said in an Instagram post to his more than 46 million followers. “Any other Presidential candidate they attempt to put forward will be of no resistance to them. I will!”

The post comes just days after McGregor, 36, appeared at the White House with Donald Trump on St. Patrick’s Day, where he became the latest European ally of the US president to promote anti-immigrant sentiment – drawing controversy and censure back home.

“Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness,” McGregor said Monday, claiming the government had “abandoned the voices” of Irish people and that rural towns were being overrun by immigrants.

Irish leader Micheál Martin said McGregor’s comments “did not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.”

Once the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Dublin-born McGregor was the first fighter to hold two UFC belts simultaneously and, according to Forbes, was the world’s highest paid sports star in 2021.

{snip}

As far back as 2022, McGregor had expressed support for people protesting against immigration. {snip}

Ireland, a country of just over 5 million people, saw 141,600 immigrants arrive in the year leading up to April 2023 – the highest figure in 16 years {snip}

But for many ordinary workers, the benefits are failing to reach their pockets and they are struggling to afford high housing prices and rents.

{snip}