Ireland’s far-right is mobilising. Heated protests outside buildings used to house asylum seekers in Ballymun, East Wall and around the country show how anti-immigration sentiment is being stirred up by groups who are organised, heavily reliant on social media and increasingly adept at exploiting fears, often with baseless stories.
Irish Times crime correspondent Conor Gallagher has been tracking the rise of the far right in Ireland in recent years and has reported on how misinformation is fuelling these increasingly heated gatherings of locals and far-right groups.
He outlines how these protests are organised, who is behind them, the misinformation spread on social media and the fears being stoked up in communities where asylum seekers are being housed.
