On the evening of September 27, 2025, the streets outside Dublin’s Aviva Stadium are expected to fill with demonstrators, their voices raised not for or against the teams on the pitch, but in protest against the presence of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The demonstration, led by Labour Party MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and the party’s LGBTQ+ wing, comes as Orbán embarks on a three-day private visit to Ireland, organized by the Hungarian Football Association, and timed to coincide with Hungary’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland.
This protest is more than a reaction to a single football match—it’s a flashpoint in a year marked by increasingly tense relations between Dublin and Budapest. Earlier in 2025, a public war of words erupted between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Orbán, after the Hungarian leader threatened to veto Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and continued his government’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights, including the banning of Pride parades in Budapest. According to Extra.ie, Martin labeled Orbán’s veto threat as “outrageous” and expressed deep concern over Hungary’s “undermining of LGBTI community and the banning of Pride parades.” Orbán, for his part, fired back on social media, accusing Martin of “standing on the side of an empire instead of national sovereignty.”
The protest at Aviva Stadium, scheduled for 7pm at the Shelbourne Road podium entrance, is a direct response to these policies and the values Orbán is seen to represent. Ó Ríordáin, in a statement reported by Extra.ie, declared, “Viktor Orbán is not welcome in Dublin. He is a man who has banned Pride in Budapest, who has aligned himself with Putin while Ukrainians are suffering and dying, and who stands for everything that football rejects. Football is about unity, diversity and bringing people together – Orbán represents division, repression and hate.” He continued, “Our city is a place of welcome and solidarity, not one that tolerates bigots and autocrats. That is why I am calling on all those who cherish equality, freedom and democracy to join us… We will make it clear to Orbán that Dublin stands with the Ukrainian people, with the LGBTQ+ community, and with all those who resist his brand of authoritarianism.”
Ó Ríordáin’s message is echoed by a broader sense of unease about the political climate in Hungary, where critics say public discourse has become increasingly toxic and polarized. Just last week, Hungarians were shocked by the suicide of the chief of police in the southern city of Hodmezővásárhely. According to DW, the officer had been the target of personal attacks in a pro-government newspaper after he permitted a rally critical of the governing Fidesz party. The tragic event underscored a growing sense that political debate in Hungary is becoming ever more acrimonious and, at times, dangerous.
“For a long time now, we’ve seen public discourse becoming increasingly aggressive,” said Gabor Polyak, a professor of media law and policy at Eötvös Lorand University in Budapest, in an interview with DW. “Politicians are constantly painting someone as the enemy, dehumanizing groups, and flooding the public realm with propagandistic messages — which are funded by the taxpayer.”
That rising tide of hostility was the spark for another recent protest in Budapest, where an estimated 50,000 people gathered to demand an end to hate speech and incitement in public life. Organized by the Loupe Theater Troupe, the demonstration was held under the slogan “Air! Stand up for free public spaces and clean public discourse.” Creative artists and activists took to the stage, with comedian Edina Pottyondy warning that the Hungarian government was using “the neurotoxin of propaganda” to manipulate public debate. Actor Tamas Lengyel, a co-founder of Loupe, explained that the protest was in part a response to government posters that, for more than a decade, have incited hatred against various “bogeymen,” from refugees to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Billions of taxpayers’ money are being spent on disinformation and propaganda,” Lengyel told DW. The group’s activism has already yielded a petition with over 200,000 signatures and an initiative for a referendum to ban hate speech in the public sphere.
These demonstrations, both in Dublin and Budapest, are taking place against the backdrop of Hungary’s increasingly centralized media landscape. Between January and August 2025, a study by Political Capital found that approximately €5.6 million (about $6.5 million) was spent on political adverts on Facebook in Hungary, with 85% of that spending on behalf of the government. The state media authority MTVA received around 80 billion forints—roughly €205 million, or $240 million—in public funding in just the first six months of 2025. Numerous private news portals and regional newspapers are controlled by companies closely associated with Fidesz, Orbán’s party, and the most important state supervisory body, the media council, is staffed by party loyalists. Reporters Without Borders has warned that “political, economic and regulatory pressure” is being exerted on the free media, and Hungary now ranks 68th out of 180 countries on the organization’s World Press Freedom Index—down from 23rd at the start of Orbán’s second term in office.
To address the growing concerns over media freedom, the European Union recently introduced the European Media Freedom Act, designed to protect independent journalism. However, as DW reports, the law’s effectiveness is uncertain: the Hungarian government has already challenged it before the European Court of Justice, raising questions about enforcement in member states where press freedom is under threat.
Meanwhile, the political temperature in Hungary shows no signs of cooling. Prime Minister Orbán, at an unofficial campaign event on September 19, 2025, warned of supposed enemies of Hungary—parties, NGOs, and media organizations he accused of “just waiting to implement instructions from Brussels.” He also posed for a selfie with the author of a far-right blog that has repeatedly insulted opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party now leads in the polls ahead of the parliamentary election set for April 2026. According to media expert Gabor Polyak, “It’s as if we’ve been living in a permanent election campaign for the past 10 years. The party can’t function any other way.” He predicts the next months will bring “a very loud, aggressive, and brutal time.”
As Hungary’s political discourse grows ever more charged, and as international scrutiny mounts, the protests in Dublin and Budapest serve as stark reminders of the deep divides shaping the country’s future—and the determination of many to push back against authoritarianism, hate, and the erosion of democratic values.