John Augustine Waters (born 28 May 1955) is a far-right Irish columnist, political candidate, journalist and author. He started his career with the music and politics magazine Hot Press, and the Sunday Tribune newspaper. He later edited the social magazine In Dublin and the investigative and current affairs magazine Magill. He became a regular columnist at The Irish Times and Irish Independent, while authoring some works on non-fiction, and developed The Whoseday Book which raised 3 million euros for charity. He has also been a member of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
Waters was an unsuccessful independent candidate in the 2020 Irish general election for the Dún Laoghaire constituency. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Midlands–North-West constituency at the 2024 European Parliament election.
Career
Early career
Waters's career began in 1981 with the Irish politics and music magazine Hot Press. He wrote for the Sunday Tribune and later edited In Dublin magazine from 1985 to 1987 and Magill.
Waters has written several books and, in 1998, he devised The Whoseday Book — which contains quotes, writings and pictures of 365 Irish writers and musicians – raising €3 million for the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Irish Times and Irish Independent
Waters wrote a weekly column for The Irish Times from 1990 to 2014.
In March 2014, Waters left The Irish Times, and shortly after started writing columns for the Sunday Independent and Irish Independent. He has since written regular columns for that paper and its sister the Irish Independent. In 2018 he released a new book called Give Us Back the Bad Roads.
In August 2021, John Waters and Gemma O'Doherty launched a freesheet newspaper titled The Irish Light, largely consisting of anti-vaccine propaganda and other conspiracy theories. It is run in conjunction with The Light, a UK publication, and reprints much of the UK version's articles.
Politics and advocacy
Waters was an active participant in the Catholic cultural movement Communion and Liberation. He has given at least one talk to the Iona Institute, a Dublin-based socially conservative organisation that advocates the advancement and promotion of the Christian religion and what it sees as the religion's social and moral values.
He was a member of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland until he resigned in January 2014, during which time he was a litigant seeking damages from the broadcaster RTÉ.
In 2015, he became involved with First Families First in calling for a 'No' vote in the referendum for the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015.
In February 2018 he appeared with Nigel Farage at an Irexit conference organised by Hermann Kelly.
High Court action against COVID-19 legislation
On 15 April 2020, Waters and Gemma O'Doherty launched a legal action against laws dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. They sought to have various parts of the legislation declared null and void by a judge of the High Court. and stated that the Seanad and Ceann Comhairle would need to be added as notice parties. stating that they had asked the group to disperse because of concerns with adherence to guidelines on social distancing and non-essential travel. and barriers were used to prevent crowds from entering the court. In her submission to the court O'Doherty said that the COVID-19 conditions were comparable to living in "Nazi Germany" and that the basis for introducing the restrictions was "scientifically fraudulent" and that evidence to that effect would be presented at the full hearing of their action. He said that the applicant's claims were not arguable and the court could not grant them an application to have their challenge determined at a full hearing of the High Court.
On 5 July 2022 the Supreme Court upheld the decision to dismiss the challenge brought by him and Gemma O'Doherty against the constitutionality of laws introduced in response to COVID-19.
2024 European Parliament election
He ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 European Parliament election in the constituency of Midlands–North-West. Waters received 13,692 (2.0%) first preference votes but was not elected.
Non-fiction and drama
Waters has written a number of works of non-fiction as well as plays for radio and the stage. The title of his first non-fiction book, Jiving at the Crossroads, is a pun of Irish president Éamon de Valera's vision of a rural Ireland which is often misattributed as "comely maidens dancing at the crossroads". In the book, Waters comments on modern Ireland. Another non-fiction work, Lapsed Agnostic, describes his "journey from belief to un-belief and back again."
Appearances
Eurovision Song Contest
Waters has entered the Eurovision Song Contest. "They Can't Stop the Spring", the song he co-wrote with Tommy Moran and performed by the band Dervish, was selected following a telephone vote of viewers on RTÉ's The Late Late Show to be Ireland's entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki. The song finished last in the European competition final, receiving only 5 points.
In 2010, RTÉ announced that Waters had sought to represent Ireland again at Eurovision, with the song "Does Heaven Need Much More?", co-written with Tommy Moran. In the Irish National Final on 5 March 2010, the song was performed by Leanne Moore, the winner of You're a Star 2008, and finished in fourth place.
Electric Picnic 2010
Waters attended the Electric Picnic music festival in 2010 and wrote that he felt a sense of dissatisfaction with the event, concluding that there was a lack of meaning underpinning events at the festival. Sunday Tribune journalist Una Mullally replied that if Waters felt disconnected or out of place at the Electric Picnic, that it was because the country had changed, and continued "perhaps this is the first Irish generation who have purposely opted out of tormenting themselves by searching for some unattainable greater meaning and who have chosen instead just to live".
Television
In 2007, Waters took part as one of the guest amateur chefs, in the RTE The Restaurant, programme.
In 2008, he took part in a television programme which researched his family's past. Parish records revealed that his great-granduncle, also called John Waters, died of starvation during the Great Famine.
Over the years Waters has participated on a number of current affairs programmes on Irish television, including Questions and Answers (RTÉ), Vincent Browne Tonight (TV3), and The Late Late Show (RTÉ).
Views
Criticism of blogosphere
During a newspaper review on radio station, Newstalk 106, Waters declared blogs and bloggers to be "stupid". He then repeated those claims the following week, sparking controversy amongst Irish bloggers who took exception to his views. In the same interview, Waters claimed that "sixty to seventy percent of the internet is pornography".
Northern Ireland
Of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the acceptance of the Good Friday Agreement by Sinn Féin, Waters has written, "After thirty years of conflict and more than 3,000 deaths, the Provos had achieved nothing more than had been on the table at the beginning. Now they were prepared to exchange all the alleged principles on which they had fought their 'war' for a few seats in an assembly that could have been agreed nearly three decades previously if they had been prepared to be reasonable. They had fought for 'freedom' and settled for power."
Pantigate
On 11 January 2014, Waters was mentioned by Irish drag queen Panti (Rory O'Neill) on RTÉ's The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O'Connor while discussing homophobia. O'Neill said that Waters, among other Irish journalists, was homophobic.
Waters and the others mentioned threatened RTÉ and O'Neill with legal action. RTÉ subsequently removed that section of the interview from their online archive. On 25 January episode of The Saturday Night Show, O'Connor issued a public apology to those named on behalf of RTÉ for being mentioned in the interview held two weeks previously. RTÉ compensated Waters and others mentioned.
RTÉ received hundreds of complaints about the issue. A rally against the payout and censorship drew 2,000 people, and the appropriateness of the payout was later discussed by members of the Oireachtas. The issue was also discussed in the European Parliament. RTÉ's head of television defended the €85,000 payout and blamed the decision mostly on Ireland's Anti-Defamation Laws.
Dispute with The Irish Times colleagues
In February 2014, Waters' implicated fellow The Irish Times journalist Patsy McGarry as the author of a handful of Tweets, written anonymously. In the piece, Waters' alleged an institutional bias within The Irish Times against Catholic social teaching. Despite this, in March 2014, it was announced that John Waters had decided to stop contributing to The Irish Times.
He was criticised by many, including Paul Kelly, founder of the suicide prevention charity Console, guidance councillor Eamon Keane, journalist Suzanne Harrington (whose late husband suffered from depression), gay rights activist Panti, charity campaigner Majella O'Donnell as well as online commenters.
His former partner Sinéad O'Connor expressed concern for Waters, saying that she thought he was suffering from depression and needed to admit it.
Faith and society
Waters devoted much of his column space in The Irish Times to discussing the role and importance of religion and faith in society. In an interview, he has described people of faith as "funnier, sharper and smarter" than atheists. In a 2009 article titled "Another no to Lisbon might shock FF back to its senses" Waters voiced his opposition to gay marriage stating that it was "potentially destructive of the very fabric of Irish society".
Thirty-fourth amendment to the Constitution of Ireland
In 2015 a referendum was held on the matter of same-sex marriage. Before the referendum the Constitution was assumed to contain an implicit prohibition on same-sex marriage.
Waters was involved with a group opposing the referendum called First Families First, along with Kathy Sinnott and Gerry Fahey.
After the referendum passed, Waters described the result as 'catastrophic' for Irish society. He also said "Not just the gay, LGBT lobby, but virtually the entire journalistic fraternity turned on me and tried to basically peck me to death".
He said "I stopped being a journalist because of the LGBT campaign. They tried to present themselves as beautiful gentle people, but these people aren't".
He also claimed that the clerical child abuse cases were "closely aligned to homosexuality".
Far right groups, as part of their xenophobic policy, had been encouraging people to oppose DP centres for some years, with little success. However, in November 2018, a proposed DP centre was firebombed in Moville. The following February, protests against a proposed DP centre in Rooskey saw another arson attack on a proposed DP centre. In September 2019, Oughterard saw the largest ever protests against a proposed DP centre, which was blockaded night and day for three weeks. Plans to accommodate asylum seekers in these four places were dropped. While there have been small protests against DP centres since Achill, none have been successful.
In a podcast in 2019 he claimed that direct provision was not inhumane and that asylum seekers lived in luxury compared to how he grew up. or later as a "luddite". At one stage he refused to use e-mail and stated his concern that society ignores the negative aspects of the Internet.
In his articles titled "Impose democracy on Iraq" and "Bush and Blair doing right thing", Waters explained his support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a position based on his belief that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the West due to its possession of weapons of mass destruction.
He wrote an article titled "Two sides to domestic violence", which criticised the lack of gender balance in Amnesty International's campaign against domestic violence in Ireland. Waters cited the National Crime Council report, conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute, which found approximate gender symmetry in most measures of domestic violence and he pointed out that despite these statistics, funding for women victims of domestic violence (€15 million) disproportionately outstrips funding for male victims. Waters' article led to a response from the head of Amnesty International's Irish branch.
Jailing over parking fine
In September 2013 he was jailed for around two hours in Wheatfield Prison over non-payment of a parking fine. The case dated back to 2011 and Waters claimed that he returned to his car one minute over a 15-minute grace period.
Defamation action against Waters
In November 2018 The Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland took a defamation action against Waters for accusing her of lying about the cause of death of Savita Halappanavar. In July 2024, Holland was awarded €35,000 damages for defamation of character against Waters.
Publications
Non-fiction
- Jiving at the Crossroads: The Shock of the New in Haughey's Ireland (Blackstaff, 1991)
- Race of Angels: Ireland and the Genesis of U2 (4th Estate/Blackstaff, 1994)
- Every Day Like Sunday? (Poolbeg, 1995)
- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Ireland (Duckworth, 1997) New edition (2001)
- The Politburo Has Decided That You Are Unwell (Liffey Press, 2004)
- Lapsed Agnostic (Continuum, 2007)
- Beyond Consolation: or How We Became Too Clever for God... and Our Own Good (Continuum, 2010)
- Feckers: 50 People Who Fecked Up Ireland (Constable, 2010)
- Was it for this? Why Ireland lost the plot (Transworld Ireland, 2012)
- Give Us Back the Bad Roads (Currach Press, 2018)
Plays
- Long Black Coat (with David Byrne) (Nick Hern Books, 1995)
- Holy Secrets (on BBC Radio 4, 1996)
- Easter Dues (1997)
- Adverse Possession (on BBC Radio 3, 1998)
He suffered from an alcohol addiction until 1989 when he gave it up completely, a decision that he credits with transforming his life. He married Rita Simons in December 2014.