Resistance
to austerity in Ireland has until recently been largely muted. In 2013 domestic
water charges were introduced and throughout 2014 a series of protests against
the charges emerged, culminating in over 90 separate marches on November 1st.
In this paper we examine the discourses which are produced and
circulated by politicians and
the mainstream media about this protest movement, and offer a brief insight into the
contemporary Irish context of austerity and crisis. We
analyse the role of the phrase “sinister fringe” as a discursive device, and
unpick the ways in which it has been used to explain the water charges protests
to the Irish public. Our
conclusions speak to the currency of the protest paradigm as a means of
understanding news media reporting of protest. Ultimately we raise concerns
regarding the effects of this dominant frame on deliberative democracy.