The network of far-right thugs spreading fear, lies and violence
Activist tells MoS arson posts by thugs were first reported five years ago – but gardaí did nothing
A NETWORK of far-right agitators is orchestrating a campaign of disinformation in towns across the country where asylum seekers are due to arrive, stoking local fears and inciting people to burn down buildings.
Last week the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed how gardaí have not made a single arrest in relation to 13 arson attacks over the past year.
Following another arson attack this week on a building earmarked for asylum housing in Lanesborough, Co. Longford, gardaí insisted the attacks are not the work of a single central group but warned ‘malign actors online’ are inciting violence.
The MoS this week monitored the online activity of a core group of far-right activists, which clearly shows how they are instilling fear and encouraging violent acts.
There are more than 30 accounts of key far-right agitators on Irish X, formally Twitter, and hundreds of smaller and anonymous accounts posting conspiratorial messages and whipping up anti-immigration sentiment.
These messages include explicit videos inciting violent and threatening commentary, some of which are accompanied by emojis encouraging blockades and arson attacks.
‘The only way to deal with these c***s is to burn them out of the
‘Burn them out of the f***ing place right now’
f***ing place right now,’ one man was filmed roaring to rapturous applause outside a Dublin Garda station last year.
The man, who is clearly identifiable, tells the crowd of anti-immigration protestors there is ‘no point standing outside a Garda station, you have to go to wherever it is f***ing starting and burn them out’
The crowd cheers while the man hands a microphone to another person before the video cuts off.
Elsewhere on social media, burning fire emojis, gifs with buildings burning and explicit ‘burn them out’ threats are commonplace under posts from the main Irish far-right social media accounts.
When these agitators name buildings they claim are earmarked as accommodation centres, a combination of named and anonymous users can be seen instantly encouraging arson attacks.
The very same accounts write similar threatening comments under other posts about potential accommodation centres or reports of blockades or arson attacks.
This week a far-right agitator with tens of thousands of social media followers posted: ‘Mayfield, Cork. Local councillor worried that former Dominican Retreat Centre is being converted to house foreigners.’ Under the post, a named user posted a picture of a Leprechaun holding a lighter standing on top of a hill overlooking a hotel.
Another named user posted three fire emojis under the same message. This same user made similar comments on other posts on X.
‘A fire would warm them up,’ he said in relation to the Roscrea protests, while under a news report of a suspected arson attack in Beaumont, Dublin, he replied with laughing emoji faces.
Another named user posted fire emojis under a tweet about there being no security in Abbeyville House, in Fermoy, Co. Cork, where there have been anti-immigrant protests for the last two months.
The same user commented with fire emojis under a post alleging a site in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, is being earmarked for asylum seekers. Even more explicitly, he posted, ‘Burn the building down’ under a tweet about the protest in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, earlier this month.
Pictures of the burning Shipwright pub in Ringsend on TikTok before Christmas were also accompanied by sinister commentary.
‘It’s only the start,’ one person commented with a fire emoji.
Another person added: ‘Love it, needs to start happening everywhere.’ Meanwhile, a convicted gangland criminal posted ‘cool’ emojis on his post about the Shipwright pub being set alight, followed with a picture of an Irish flag. Another prominent far-right account posted, ‘The seeds of fire have been disturbed at heart of every true Gael’ on repeat over the last number of days and weeks, with the hashtag; #irelandbelongstotheirish.
One female commentator menacingly wrote on Facebook that a Dublin hotel ‘housing immigrants’ needed to be set alight.
Another agitator with thousands of followers tweeted following the arson attack in Longford this week: ‘Convent will not be used for fakeugees after small fire!’ His tweet was met with glee from others who posted fire emojis and burn building gifs.
‘Let’s f***ing go!!!’ said one person with a fire emoji attached.
Another gleefully wrote, ‘That’s how you deal with that’ under news reports of arson attacks.
One identifiable man commented: ‘People who burn down plantation centres are to my mind heroes.’
Another named man agreed, replying ‘Heroes’ with a picture of a burning building and the hashtag; #irelandisfull.
Despite all of this sinister online commentary, gardaí around the country have yet to make arrests in relation to the now 14 suspected arson attacks carried out countrywide in the last 12 months.
In a statement to the MoS this week on foot of requests for updates on the investigations, a Garda spokesperson said: ‘We are not in a position to provide detailed updates on every investigation listed in your enquiry, nor does An Garda Síochána comment generally on any particular group of investigations.’
However, the spokesperson added gardaí are taking the far-right threat seriously and said the penalty for arson is up to life in prison.
An anti-racism activist who has been carrying out detailed research on the far-right in Ireland for the past five years said the threat is only now being taken seriously.
He said he has amassed evidence of known far-right agitators at sites where arson attacks were later carried out ‘in almost every case’.
‘I have noted over a particular time activity by a [named group] around the sites of these arson attacks,’ the activist told the MoS.
‘They or people associated with them. I don’t think, to be frank, it is a gang of two or three arsonists running around the country doing these things. But what I do see, and this goes right back to that initial arson in Donegal and it also holds for arsons in Rooskey [Co. Roscommon], the one in Ringsend and a lot of the recent ones, there were farright activists involved at those locations pre the arsons in almost every case.
‘The arsons are coming from a far-right milieu, but it doesn’t mean they are necessarily centrally organised. In terms of what the far right is, the far right is a network.
‘It is not a traditional hierarchical organisation, and in that network it is clear if you observe them on Telegram or Facebook pages they inhabit or their Twitter accounts, they are in favour of these arsons.’
The concerning trend of posting fire emojis and explicit threats online has been happening for the past five years in Ireland, according to the activist. Referring to one of the first arson attacks on accommodation centres here, the man – who does not want to be named for fear of being targeted by a volatile far-right group – said a well-known agitator was present in Rooskey, in Co. Roscommon, in advance of the arson attack there in 2019.
‘He was posting videos about Rooskey on Facebook at the time,’ he said.
‘At the time, that phenomenon you are describing, of fire emojis and “set-the-place-on-fire” posts, was happening back then.
‘We are going back almost exactly
‘Pressure is on gardaí – switch has been flicked’
five years. The fact that was happening five years ago was reported to local gardaí, and at that time they were not interested. I think the pressure is on now though, and suddenly in the last couple of days we have gardaí following up on statements we made previously.
‘Some switch has been flicked and it’s obvious why; you can’t have building after building being burnt.’
The activist said he believes gardaí are now finally taking the far-right threat seriously.
He revealed to the MoS: ‘I made a statement to them about the arson in Galway [the burning of the Ross Lake Hotel in Rosscahill last month], because from news reports I was able to identify a [named group] figure at the rallies just before the arson attack happened.
‘I was also able to track when the video of the fire came out, what was the earliest Twitter accounts to share it. They [the gardaí] wanted a signed statement with those bits of information,’ he said, adding: ‘They [gardaí] are trying to track the video footage that was shot while the fire was burning back to where it came from.’