How the global far-right uses Ireland to spread anti-immigrant narratives online

From tricolours in Dublin to protests in London, Ireland’s far-right is feeding — and being fed by — global networks

A member of the Garda Public Order Unit keeps an eye on the huge crowds of people at a far-right protest outside the Custom House in Dublin city centre. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Last Saturday, at the protest march in London led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, many in the crowd held up a picture of their hero. It wasn’t Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, but the recently murdered Charlie Kirk. Most probably few in the estimated 100,000 plus crowd even knew Kirk’s name ahead of his killing in Utah the previous Wednesday. But in death he had taken on the mantle of a martyr for those espousing anti-immigrant anger.

The protest was billed as being in the name of “free speech”. And in that context, Kirk’s murder put a topical spin on the ostensible reason for it. He was well known to a younger generation, mainly through his use of the TikTok platform. But for the vast majority of the protesters in London, Kirk could have been any one of the hundreds of right wing “influencers” who inhabit social media.