In November 2023, the Dublin riots shocked Ireland and the wider world. They were sparked by a knife attack by an immigrant on three children. Inflammatory online rumours spread in minutes. Part of the north inner city were wrecked, cars and buses torched. Later, a group of far-right protestors besieged and effectively closed down the Dail, attacking TDs and wreaking havoc on the streets for hours.

Until very recently, Ireland had prided itself on having escaped the wave of far-right, xenophobic populism now rampant throughout Europe. That complacency has been rudely challenged.

In The Irish Far Right, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc explores the long history that has led to this pivotal moment. He uncovers the pervasive anti-Semitism of the Irish political elite in the 1920s and 30s, the energetic efforts of Mosley and other British fascists to extend their movement to the North of Ireland, the IRA’s alliance with Nazi Germany in the 40s and the many ultra-Catholic, anti-communist Irish movements that were millimetres away from fascism. He tells the story of exotic entities like the Fascio di Dublino, the Dublin branch of Mussolini's Fascist Party, and the Irish wing of Miss Rotha Lintorn-Orman's ‘British Fascisti’.

The openly-fascist Irish movement known as the Blueshirts, an offshoot and ally of the early Fine Gael, is looked at with fresh eyes, and its supporters’ statements about Jews now make for hair-raising reading. Many of its proponents went on to become pillars of the Irish political and cultural establishment. And the Catholic and nationalist Ailtirí na hAiséirghe (Architects of the Resurrection), a post-war sect, was in many ways a precursor of today’s Irish far right.

This is an essential book about an aspect of Irish history all too often swept under the carpet.