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An avowedly Nazi political organisation called Clann Éireann (CÉ) has been left in tatters after a concerted operation by a collective of republican and anti-fascist groups who have formed the new Socialist Republican Front (SRF). A group connected to Clann Éireann, the incongruously named Republicans Against Antifa (RAA), have also reportedly been significantly undermined by the same means – a combination of surveillance and direct action against their members.

RAA are known to have engaged in acts of graffiti in West Belfast, a predominantly Catholic, Nationalist and Republican (CRN) area of the city. One incident involved spray-painting a Northern Ireland Housing Executive van with the words “House the Irish” along with a racial slur. The Housing Executive are responsible for managing social housing waiting lists and maintaining council-owned properties.

Clann Éireann are a peculiar combination of the sinister and the absurd. Led by long-time far-right activist Justin Barrett, they can be seen on their YouTube channel engaging in comical LARPing of the Third Reich. Whereas most modern fascists have gotten more savvy, softening their image and playing a different tune that never quite goes full Adolf, Barrett’s crew are still performing the the greatest (aka worst) hits from the 1930s. While these antics may amuse more than terrify, the blood and soil rhetoric found on their website is symptomatic of a growing drift towards far-right sentiment in Ireland more broadly.

Nazi and fascist network mapped through lengthy surveillance operation

Both groups are accused by SRF of:

…desecration of Republican graves, the destruction of Republican material, and the targeting of Irish Republicans.

The hateful actions have taken place primarily in Belfast , with the coordinated strategy under the Socialist Republican Front over the last 12 months being the response to this. In a post on the Anti-Fascist Action Ireland Facebook page, a statement from the SRF describes their realisation that:

…liberal street politics would not work, and only concrete action, well organised and executed, would effectively deal with those involved.

They describe beginning with a lengthy surveillance operation, with the goal of identifying members of the group and mapping out its structure. One male individual is named as being swiftly identified. The SRF statement says:

He was observed on many occasions, and filmed, leaving his home in Andersonstown [West Belfast] in the early of hours of the morning, and carrying out a pro-Nazi, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT graffiti campaign, alongside the removal of Republican material.

Through this person, other members of CÉ were discovered and surveilled at “homes, workplaces, universities, gyms [and] places of frequent attendance”. They were found to be operating in numerous towns across the north of Ireland. A trap was set near the home of one of those identified, with republican material being placed nearby, which he was caught removing.

The statement describes him being given a “stern talking to” before he supplied information about the groups he was associating with. After failing to discontinue his association with fascists, his family home is described as being “smashed up” and its front destroyed.

Clann Éireann members driven off Dublin streets

This is not the only instance of aggressive measures being taken to counter Clann Éireann. The statement goes on to recall a September 13 incident in Dublin, in which members of the fascist group were beaten in the streets by what Anti Imperialist Action Ireland (AIAI) describe as “local working class youth, Republicans and Anti Fascists”. Describing the aftermath of a CÉ “publicity stunt” in St. Patrick’s Park, AIAI say:

…an ambush was launched against 10 of the boneheads who were battered off the streets and had their uniforms confiscated from them.

The pressure of these incidents has clearly taken a toll on the far-right agitators, with SRF claiming:

Our broader intelligence indicates that CÉ are in internal disarray since the Dublin action, unable to effectively organise any actions, and with a significant reduction in membership due to resignations and members quietly leaving the fold.

A source connected to the republican/anti-fascist coalition told the Canary that the direct approach had been particularly effective in the North of Ireland due to only facing “a very small runt of misguided people” that are generally “viewed as farcical and ridiculous”. They went on to say:

The greater concern is the right wing media’s messages of blaming migrant and asylum seekers for the failures of the state seeping into our communities. The same tactics were deployed using sectarianism instead of racism in this state for a long time and most people see this for what it is in the nationalist Republican community.

Continued left unity needed against far-right

Far-right sentiment in the Six Counties has typically been overwhelmingly associated with loyalism, and that remains the case today. That tendency has recently found new life through engaging in anti-immigrant violence and by aligning themselves in opposition to the pro-Palestine movement.

The source expressed more scepticism for the prospects of combatting the far-right in the Republic of Ireland via the same means on a broader scale, suggesting the tactics used may polarise opinion. He argued this could enable the state to divide what could potentially be a unified left-wing opposition if those led astray by the far-right were won over by other means.

Compared to North of Ireland, the increased time distance that the Republic of Ireland have from direct imperial violence may lead to an amnesia over the historical character of Irish nationalism. Barrett has attempted to co-opt leading figures from the Easter Rising for his own purposes, though it’s likely that he’s ultimately too ridiculous a character to pull the trick off. It remains a possibility that more astute operators can repurpose the romance of 1916’s battle against an oppressive foreign presence into a modern day anti-immigrant crusade, bolstered by retrenchment worldwide of petty nationalism. A more likely avenue may be for the far-right to take on the templates used by British and American fascists.

Combatting such a tendency will likely require further coordinated action of radical left-wing actors, similar to the effective platform trialled by SRF, though with a broader catalogue of tactics to ward off the reactionary threat in all its forms.