Russia invades Ukraine – a look at international connections between Ireland and the far right in Ukraine and Russia as solidarity effort builds for Ukraine in Ireland
• ‘Zelensky singles out Ireland for lagging in support for Ukraine’ read the original Irish Times headline this month in relation to what since then has been referred to as unclear commentary from the Ukrainian President that may refer to Ireland’s decision not to send military aid to the country. This took place two weeks before Zelensky shared his Greek parliament platform with members of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. Right wing journalists and politicians have sustained criticism targeting Irelands neutrality since Russia invaded Ukraine.
• Irish journalists, in what could generously be described as laziness, have rallied support for Right Sector man currently residing in North Dublin. The original image, since deleted from the article, show the man in military gear wearing the Right Sector flag. The Ukrainian Right Sector are a far-right organisation who engage in street fighting and violently target LGBTQ communities.
New Zealand neo-Nazi moves to Cork
• New Zealander, neo-Nazi Sam Brittenden, has moved to Cork. The 21 year old has a history of making terror threats. FRO researchers have uncovered evidence of Brittendens engagement with SSPXR chat forums and it is believed Brittenden has been recruited into the openly fascist religious cult with a compound in West Cork. Read FRO profile of Brittenden here.
Growing international audience for Keith Woods
• Keith woods ascends to international neo-fascist big leagues hosting Richard Spencer this month in a nationalism debate with Joel Davis.
• Last month, Patriotic Alternative awarded Woods “best non-Brit channel” in their National Awards (11 min in).
INAR and SoH reports on hate out for 2021
• INAR’s Ireport for 2021 came out this month with the following key findings; assault rates remain high, racist language was used in 75% of all criminal offences, the most discriminated against groups was Black-African, and poor experiences among minorities of policing, “trust in Gardai and the criminal justice system among minorities is still alarmingly low”. Serious incidents included the following: “A Black-African woman was verbally abused and threatened with a 30 cm knife at her throat after she asked a stranger to respect social distancing at the bus station”. “A Black man was waiting for his friend outside of a takeaway when a group of young people began shouting racist abuse. The Gardaí were called, but rather than helping the man, he reported that he was punched by a Garda, arrested, and thrown in a cell naked. He was left with injuries and felt anger that he was arrested when he called the garda for help”.
• State of Hate report for 2021 also came out this month with the following reports on Northern Ireland: An upsurge in far-right activity in 2021 fuelled by Brexit and conspiracy theories; dialogue across the religious divide on either side of the border between Dowson, Fransen and far-right groups in the Republic (finding common ground over their shared anti-choice, anti-communism and conspiracy theory tendencies) – of particular note here is confirmation that Dowson is in communication with the National Party, a hate organisation in Ireland; Patriotic Alternative are in the process of establishing a branch in NI; British Movement were joined by former National Front activists when distributing leaflets on the fringe of Loyalist protests last year.
National Front’s dim-witted leader Tony Martin moves to Northern Ireland
• National Front’s dim-witted leader Tony Martin has moved from his mother’s Croydon home to his girlfriends gaff in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. Martin, who claimed in 2018 that support for NF was growing in NI, has a history of pursuing odious boozy blondes. His current woman, Sharon Mellor, former member of EVF (EDL splinter group English Volunteer Force styled on UVF) and associate of Britain First goons, is known for hate crime stunts including threatening to burn down a Mosque – the same mosque KKK costume gang appeared at after posing with Mellor for photos. It’s unclear whether this sleazy pairing could overcome Martin’s lack of smarts as NF leader.

Russia invades Ukraine – a look at historical and contemporary international connections between Ireland and the far right in Ukraine and Russia as solidarity effort builds for Ukraine in Ireland
• Journalists, local antifascists and Hope Not Hate have reported recruitment activity of international Nazis seeking foreign fighters for the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion in Ireland from 2017 onwards. Azov are an international militia (recruits from Russia, Europe, the US and South America) officially made part of the Ukrainian army in 2014. For HNH, Matthew Collins tells us that this connection to Ireland stems from a belief among key figures in the Azov Battalion Misanthropic Division (MD) that the networks used to give sanctuary to provisional IRA would somehow also function as ratlines to/from Ukraine for Nazis exiting Britain to Ireland or reverse. Active in Ireland for MD were; Italian Nazi, Francesco Saverio Fontana recruiting through the eco-fascist organisation ‘Greenline Front’; Denis Ryabtsun, a Ukrainian-Canadian licensed private security employee in Galway; and an American operating on an Irish passport who left Ireland in 2017. These actors concentrated recruitment in Galway and Dublin with particular focus among Polish communities and liaised with C18 UDA man with strong connections to Polish far right in the UK. It should be noted that C18 have a historic connection to police intelligence agents.
• A Beacon investigation reveals Irish businessman in Ukraine, Paul Niland, has a history of downplaying controversy surrounding the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. RTE and Irish Times have sought commentary from Niland about events on the ground in Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine this month.
• Right Sector flag displayed in the window of a café in Tipperary facilitating aid effort and run by a Ukrainian couple.
Hate attacks
• Davey Fisher of Oldpark, Belfast, Paul Golding and other Britain First actors led a hate campaign against migrants in a Belfast hotel this month. This follows event last July 2021 when former BF member Jolene Bunting and DUP councillor Marc Collins targeted people seeking asylum in Carrickfergus. PSNI are investigating actions of Collins and Bunting as hate crimes.
• 8 men targeted a gay couple in Temple Bar, Dublin with abuse and threats. 50 bystanders failed to act in solidarity as the two men stood their ground.
Splits and schisms as National Party membership plateaus
• Tallaght man Philip Dwyer was booted out of the National Party this month following months of internal division leaving NP leadership feeling undermined. Dwyer, also booted off You-tube is now scrambling for attention on Bitchute and Telegram, escalating his campaigns of hate via public stunts.
• National Party membership continues to plateau despite celebrations of 100-person attendance at February national meeting in Portlaoise.
Peadar panders to Aontú bigots
• Aontú TD, Peadar Tóibín, put a question to the Dáil this month suggesting a connection between “illegal immigrants” and violent, sexual assaults. This moves Aontú into closer alignment with far-right groups in Ireland attempting to exploit the recent escalation of violent misogyny and hate attacks to further their white nationalist agenda.
• Aontú formed January 2019 following a split from Sinn Féin over the abortion referendum. The last attempt by an Aontú member to publicly pursue a racist agenda took place February 27th 2019 when Cathy Gaffney, unsuccessful Mayo candidate, shared ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy content on social media. Gaffney was disciplined and deleted the post. This move is notable for the display of party discipline in holding a very clear line since then between their left economic socially authoritarian yet non-racist position (for e.g. Aontú signed the 2020 INAR anti-racism election protocol) and the free-for-all hate fest of the Irish far right. Tóibíns Dáil question blurs that line and suggests the block of Aontú bigots holding a more populist far right orientation have a growing influence over the party.
Official recognition of police/UDA connection increases scrutiny over UDA/far-right connection
• The Northern Ireland police ombudsman has officially recognised collusion between Northern Ireland police and UDA between 1990-1998. The report “identified eight UDA/UFF members who were linked, through intelligence, to the murders and attempted murders of 27 people. A number of these are referred to in this public statement. All eight individuals were police informants either at the time, or subsequent to, these attacks.”
• For anti-fascists, this development increases the need for our scrutiny over historical and contemporary connections between UDA and the international far-right. As noted already here, Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) magazine ‘Fighting Talk’ report a history of mutual support between paramilitary unionism (UDA/UVF) and international far-right organisations (National Front, VMO, C18) in Northern Ireland since 1970’s. These connections have appeared mostly dormant since the ’98 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to three decades of armed conflict sparked by the British State’s violent repression of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement. In his 2012 memoir of his time in the National Front and BNP, Matthew Collins characterises the relationship between British far-right groups National Front, BNP and C18 and some Loyalists and Unionists in Northern Ireland to be “largely instrumental, not institutional”. British far-right groups have long seen Northern Ireland as a breeding ground for their hate but have failed to establish a long-term base in the region due to their inability to understand the distinct histories, cultures, social groups and experiences that characterise the region. Trademark Belfast point out that the DUP, UUP, PUP, TUV have occasionally occupied that space that a populist or far-right party would fill (2014).
• For further reporting on these connections see Statewatch and Hope Not Hate.

Infamous Antrim neo-Nazi dies of Covid
Mervin Shields, from Bushmills, Co. Antrim, died on New Years day of “Covid complications”. The guitarist and bassist, who is reported to have not been vaccinated because he considered the pandemic to be a “Jewish plot”, died at the age of 59. Shields was a significant figure in the international ‘Blood and Honour’ music network known for promoting neo-Nazi ideology and Loyalist politics. Tributes went out to Shields from London UDA leader Frank Portinari, Loyalist Defence League and neo-Nazi’s across Europe.
Hermann Kelly in Brussels with Croatian & Romanian MEPs
Hermann Kelly appeared in Brussels this month with Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes and Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić. Kelly, who previously worked for Nigel Farage and is president of far-right organisation the Irish Freedom Party, has recently taken on a new role as press officer for Terhes. Both Terhes and Kolakušić remain focused on their conspiratorial anti-vaccine cert platform and should be watched carefully for connections to far right themes.
‘White Lives Matter’ neo-Nazi propaganda distributed in Dublin
• ‘White Lives Matter’ neo-Nazi propaganda was distributed in Dún Laoghaire, Landsdowne road, Grand Canal Docks, Dublin this month. It was hastily removed by local antifascists. Content included “White Lives Matter, we must secure our existence” and linking to the international network ‘White Lives Matter’ on Telegram. The Irish WLM channel, currently with 70 subscribers was set up April 2021 and has maintained low traction.
• For further reading on rise and fall of the US WLM groups and their neo-Nazi connections see the SPLC report.
• Outside of the US, the ‘White Lives Matter’ slogan functions as banner content, hashtags and handles as opposed to clearly signifying a defined network. See banner drops by Patriotic Alternative.
Coordinated crowd funding for Keith Woods
• Coordinated donations totalling over 6000 euro to Keith Woods were made over a period of days in January 2022 on buymeacoffee.com. Antifascists have brought this to the attention of managers of the crowd funding site but it remains unclear what action, if any, they will take.
• Originally from Roscommon, Keith Woods has a growing international fan base for his non-stop anti-Semitic bile, overtly neo-Nazi imagery and Third Positionist ideology. A You-tube video uploaded January 1st reached 30,000 viewers in 3 days.
• Woods appears 9 times in the Unicorn Riot leak of white nationalist Patriotic Front internal chats.
Escalation of violent misogyny and racist hate attacks
• The 12th January murder of 23 year old teacher, Aisling Murphy, in Tullamore, Offaly dominated news headlines this month shedding light on escalating violent misogyny across Ireland. While agencies have maintained a high alert over the shadow pandemic of domestic violence throughout Covid, reports of street violence against women in Ballyfermot, Cork, Kilkenny and elsewhere this month shifted the public into action. Vigils in memory of Aisling Murphy were disrupted across the country by ‘Mens Rosary’ and anti-lockdown groups. A Zoom vigil was disrupted by a man exposing himself appearing to masturbate on camera while hate group, the National Party, whose members have a long history of misogynistic abuse, exploited the murder of Aisling Murphy to push their racist agenda at her graveside. Many of these marauding misogynists have long standing connections with international far right networks including Generation Identity and Patriotic Alternative. ISD analyst Aoife Gallagher describes the gendered far right playbook, “They ridicule the genuine responses of those who see this crime for what it is – the senseless murder of a young, innocent woman – and show their true colours by calling women “bitches”, “libtards”, “freaks” or “unhinged”, or implying that there is a conspiracy at play to coordinate a response.”
• A man was stabbed on 14th January in North Belfast in what the PSNI are describing as a racist hate crime. Masked men armed with knives forced a Dublin family out of their home fleeing the racist attacks in Tallaght. This month a Galway man was sentenced to 3 months for racial abuse of Cork woman in August 2020. Cast and crew of the Lion King musical report being subjected to racist and homophobic abuse and threats of violence during their time in Dublin.

Key Developments

 
Hermann Kelly’s media role with Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes

• Hermann Kelly, president of far-right organisation, The Irish Freedom Party (IFP), has a new role as press officer for Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes. Kelly has previously acted as press officer for Nigel Farage and is known for opposing immigration and promoting racist ideas of racial superiority. As part of this media role, Kelly coordinates English language communications for Terhes, who opposes mandatory certificates of vaccination in the European Parliament. Irish MEP’s Clare Daly and Mick Wallace joined four other MEP including Terhes in opposing the certificates.
• Since Kelly has taken on this role with Terhes, who has large social media following among Romanian language users, we can see similar narratives and aesthetic used by the IFP being used in Terhes’ media. Being mindful of Kelly’s past efforts to stoke racialised conflict via wedge-issue politics, we must watch carefully for international coordination by Kelly and Terhes between Romania and Ireland, particularly among Romanian-Irish communities.
  International connections of Irish far-right highlighted in Islamophobia report
• The European Islamophobia Report for 2020, published 29th December 2021, has highlighted the international connections of Irish far-right. The report for Ireland lists Niall Mc Connells relationships with members of neo-fascist groups across Europe, “including the NDP (Germany); the New Right (Romania); Democracia Nacional (Spain); E. Michael Jones, who has been referred to as an anti-Semitic author; Dan Eriksson (Europa Terra Nostra); Roberto Fiore (Forza Nuova); Nick Griffin (former leader of the British National Party); the aforementioned Jim Dowson, who is referred to as a “central pillar in the Christian militant group Knights Templar International”; and Greek Golden Dawn associate Athanasios Konstantinou.”
• Authors Bayrakli and Hafez warn of an overall rise of militant Islamophobia, with a particular emphasis on hate crimes carried out in Germany, Sweden and the UK.
  Conspiracy theorist suspected in connection to New Year’s Eve arson attack on Freemasons Hall, Dublin
  • Gardaí are investigating a fire that broke out in Dublin’s Freemason Hall, New Year’s Eve, as an arson attack. A Dublin man is his thirties, is suspected in connection with the fire. Graffiti outside the building accused the Freemasons of being part of a hoax-pandemic global conspiracy. The graffiti read “ “Burn for the children you destroy: 33A Nucleotides”. News of the fire spread throughout conspiracy and extremist themed social media channels with commentary celebrating the arson attack.
  Mark Nolan, British far-right terror suspect, is charged in Ireland
• Mark Nolan, British far-right terror suspect, sought in the UK for terrorism charges and possession of 250,000 indecent images including images of children, has been charged with five new offences in Ireland relating to possession of firearms and possessing material contrary to the Offences Against The State Act. These new charges have postponed Nolan’s extradition to the UK. Nolan, who uses aliases ‘Mark Peppard’ and ‘Mark Wolf’, resided at Britannia Street, Camden, London before moving to Ireland earlier this year. He was arrested in Dublin on 16th June 2021. It is unknown what connections Nolan has to Ireland or Irish far-right. Nolan is suspected to be involved with the proscribed neo-nazi group, National Action. See Red Flare tweet report on National Action.
  Continued public and political pressure forces tech giants to act against hate
• Twitter and Facebook have suspended the social media pages of key far-right figures in Ireland following years of sustained public and political pressure on the tech giants to act against hate.
• Twitter account of Keith Woods/O’Brien, 23K+ followers, and his LinkTree account, have been suspended. Woods is social media influencer who has been pushing anti-Semitic, neo-nazi content since his emergence early 2019. He continues to produce content on Telegram to his 16K followers and Youtube to his 39K followers (with 41k views on his January 1st 2022 video.
• Facebook account of Dolores Cahill has been suspended as part of new measures in Facebook, “aggressive steps to fight harmful Covid-19 misinformation on our platforms,”. Cahill’s followership doubled to 130,000 followers in 2021 according to ISD. It has emerged that Facebook lacks the local knowledge necessary to act against hate on its platform. Facebook’s representatives at a meeting with civil society groups said “…lots of hateful content doesn’t get reviewed because the reviewers have no local context…Automated moderators likewise have no context – they work off keywords”. It remains unclear why the tech giant did not take action to develop local knowledge or whether it intends to do so.

Key developments

 
Irish senator Ronan Mullen joins the religious right and far-right at alliance-building event in Hungary

• The fourth Political Network for Values (PNfV) meeting took place in Budapest, Hungary on 18th and 19th November attracting an international gathering of religious right and far right figures. Participants included Irish senator Ronan Mullen, founder and president of Spanish far-right party VOX Santiago Abascal, founder and president of Vente Venezuela party Maria Corina Machado (charged in 2014 for alleged plot to murder opposition leader), Amy Sinclair, US senator who supports Iowa gun owners carrying arms without a permit, and PNfV president Katalin Novák.
• Novák, current Hungarian Minister for Family Affairs, was announced to lead next Hungarian Government, by Viktor Orban, whose 11 year role as Hungarian Prime Minister is notable for the massive 8.5 billion investment in a “military modernisation drive” and for establishing Hungary as the driving force in a global network restricting rights of women and minorities.
• When Mullen, who is known to admire Orban, was invited by RTE Radio One to comment on a gesture of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement taken by Irish football players in Budapest on June 6th 2021, he came out in support of Hungarian Ultras. Guests should “not provoke the host”, Mullen said, echoing the words of Viktor Orban.
• The PNfV is supported by CitizenGo and the Alliance for the Defence of Freedom (ADF), a US hate group organising for the criminalisation of LGBTQIA, the sterilisation of Trans people, denial of goods and services to LGBTQIA. The ADF, who were close advisers to the Trump administration on the restriction of rights for LGBTQIA, joined The Iona Institute, who play a key role in mainstreaming of hate against minority groups in Ireland, as co-signatories to a Human Rights Council submission advocating for restrictions on the rights of women.
   
  Far right target parents and children with anti-lockdown propaganda
• Following record level spread of Covid strains and the re-introduction of Government restrictions, National Party members including Patrick Quinlan have escalated their community outreach targeting parents and children with anti-mask, anti-lockdown conspiracy theories.
• Groups monitoring far-right exploitation of the pandemic have warned that new actors have emerged, calling themselves ‘Irish Education Alliance’ (IEA).
• Anti-lockdown rallies in Ireland have pulled mixed crowds of people, some with genuine concerns and others who would seek to exploit the pandemic to further their politics of hate. For further reading on the far-right orientations of figures behind anti-lockdown protests see the December 2021 report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and and the January 2021 report from the Far-right Observatory.
   
  Dublin Oak Academy has questions to answer about suspected connection to French far-right ringleader
• Dublin Oak Academy, an international, private, Catholic boarding school in Bray, County Wicklow that claims to offer “world class wholistic formation programme” has questions to answer about suspected connection to French far-right ringleader after a video of a group of young men attacking a feminist march in Paris on November 20th emerged showing one of the group ringleaders wearing a ‘Dublin Oak Academy’ branded hoody. Footage depicts a large group of young men wielding weapons against a crowd. The group are believed to be a far-right student organisation in Paris ‘La Cocarde Nanterre’ aligned with Génération Identitaire (now a banned group). Dublin Oak Academy is a Legionaires of Christ school for boys.

Key developments

 
Press Ombudsman rejects Kelly’s challenge to reference of Irish Freedom Party as far-right

• On 13th October, the Irish Press Ombudsman issued their decision in response to a complaint made by Hermann Kelly, president of the far-right organisation, The Irish Freedom Party. Kelly’s complaint, that online newspaper, The Journal, had breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice of the Press Council of Ireland, for reference to his organisation as far-right, was rejected by the Press Ombudsman. The Ombudsman stated that journalists, “in categorising political parties can legitimately look at what causes and campaigns members or supporters of a party have been associated with. The use of the epithet “far-right” to describe the Irish Freedom Party is, in my view, not a breach of Principle 1.”
• Founded in 2019, the Irish Freedom Party has come to be known as an ‘astroturf’ organisation in reference to its importing of campaign tactics and continued failure to establish a genuine grassroots base in Ireland. Members of the far-right organisation push anti-immigration and socially authoritarian disinformation alongside populist rhetoric seeking to insert themselves into organised community grievances. For example, in an attempt to tap into widespread grievances oversupply of housing and energy, the 16th Oct rally for secure housing and cheaper energy in Ennis (hometown of IFP leader Michael Leahy) attracted only 10 people.
   
  Leader of hate group, The National Party, invokes ‘blood and soil’ at party annual conference
• The so-called National Party (NP) held their Ard Fheis (annual conference) this month to an audience of 60 including two women. In his address ‘The Responsibilities of the State to the Nation’, NP leader, Justin Barrett invoked ‘blood and soil’ in his description of the nation. Barrett, who has called for the execution of doctors who perform abortions, and for non-white Irish people to be stripped of their citizenship, has longstanding connections to international neo-Nazi’s.
   
  National Party member gets prison for September 2020 assault on woman
• National party member, Michael Quinn, 30-year-old from Ardee, Co Louth, with 48 previous convictions including assault, violent disorder, affray, burglary, theft, and public order offences, has been jailed for two years for assault on a woman in September 2020. See The Beacon for further reporting.
   
  Facebook calls time on Crofts calls for violence
   
  Son of former Taoiseach John Bruton, involved with anti-Semitic group SSPXR
• An investigation into the West Cork-based anti-Semitic group, The Irish Society of Saint Pius X Resistance (SSPXR) has revealed that Matt Bruton, son of former Taoiseach John Bruton has had extensive involvement with the group for many years. Matt Bruton, former chairman of Young Fine Gael, confirmed to journalists of his involvement with the organisation and of his attendance at the SSPX R conference in Tralee in 2018 which was addressed by Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson. In response to questions about Williamson conviction for Holocaust denial Matt Bruton said “He was convicted in Germany, where it’s illegal in Germany. It’s not illegal here”. Bruton can be seen in an organiser role in footage of the Irish SSPX R events on YouTube.
   
  Generation Identity and Greenline Front in a leak of Facebook’s dangerous organisations list for Ireland
• Generation Identity (GI) UK and Ireland (including Ben Jones, Joe Newey, Charlie Fox, Charlie Shaw, Martin Sellner, William McNeil) and Greenline Front (GLF) are named in a leak of Facebook’s dangerous organisations list for Ireland.