TPM / The Mary Wallopers Protest | Explained

Are you wondering what was happening in Dundalk the other day? So were we.

This was a story featuring a rogue hip-hop group, an Irish trad band, and a former staff writer for the Irish Independent. Ready? Allow us to explain...

UCD masters graduate and award winning journalist Gemma O'Doherty is a controversial figure in Ireland. Alongside her journalistic credentials, she is the leader of the citizens movement 'Anti-Corruption Ireland', a banner fellow Irish columnist John Waters ran under during the 2020 general elections. He was unsuccessful.

In May the pair mounted a legal challenge against Covid-19 public health restrictions, with O'Doherty making a speech to the gathered crowd before entering the High Court. In this speech, while holding a copy of the Constitution, Ms O’Doherty criticised the Government, the media, the World Health Organisation, and even the need for vaccines. 

While in court, Waters claimed that the consequences of the lockdown would result in the “destruction of our society”. They drew comparisons with Nazi Germany, which the judge found to be 'absurd and offensive'. The case was thrown out. Ouch.

 Awk well, at least there was still good old fashioned public protesting to get the message across, right?



Enter TPM, a Dundalk based hip-hop act writing tongue in cheek tunes about life on the dole, drugs and the evils of RTE television. They've been building a fan base in Ireland for over 5 years now, selling out shows with their electro-rap.

In July last year, the band took a total de-tour, swapping Rubberbandits inspired comedic videos, for genuinely moving Irish folk ballads. They named their new group 'The Mary Wallopers' and though TPM still retains a larger online following for now, the gap is closing by the day. Last year The Mary Wallopers went on a European tour, announced a huge headline show in Whelans, and even played Glastonbury.

Don't believe us? Check out their debut EP 'A Mouthful of The Mary Wallopers' below.



Back to yesterday.

Gemma O'Doherty had planned a protest march against the government on Blackrock beach, Dundalk. This was a small scale gathering, with 'End Corruption' banners and tricolour's on display.

Then came our heroes. Armed with homemade signs ('Bring Back the Punt!') and tin foil hats to 'protect against 5G internet', TPM had formed their own counter protest under the name 'Dundalk Against Change'.

Some highlights from the two man rebellion include;

"The internet is too fast! Bring back dial up!"

"We used to have two Tescos in our town! We had one Tesco for clothes and another for food, now we just have one!"

and a personal favourite, "We want our old ways because that's the way that we had it...and the new ways are wrong!"

If you've not checked out the viral video yet, click here. 

The small crowd that had gathered to support O'Doherty was soon dwarfed by the bemused onlookers caught up in TPM's surprise visit. The video has already amassed nearly half a million views on Twitter alone.

If you'd like to check out more from The Mary Wallopers, you can catch their next live stream on Friday night.

Now, lets bring back the old shopping centre!

Taylor Johnson