The Far Right in Ireland: New Allegiances, Old Identities CSTPV Seminar with guest speaker Orla Lynch

It is often claimed that there is little to no organised extreme right-wing (ERW) presence in Ireland. The absence of the ERW was long attributed to Ireland's ‘civil war' political system, however, in recent years, the country has witnessed an increase in both far-right and ERW activity via online activism, street protest, and even violence. While the far right in Ireland is a relatively new manifestation, it maps onto an existing conflict based identity system, incorporating sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland and anti-British sentiment in the Republic. Perhaps the most prominent manifestation of the ERW is in the online space, and this paper explains the Irish online ecosystem by focusing on social media influencer activity, their role in the propagation of ERW ideas, the spread or contagion of ideas into and out of the Irish eco-system, and how these themes are leading to the reimagining of chosen traumas and historic identity boundaries. This presentation emerges from a study conducted with Gabriella Fattibene and James Windle from UCC.

Orla Lynch is a Professor of Criminology at University College Cork, Ireland; her background is in International Security Studies and Applied Psychology; her primary training is as a social psychologist. She studied at both the University of St Andrews (MLitt) and University College Cork (Phd). Orla is a Senior fellow with Hedayah, Abu Dhabi and was a Board member of RAN, Europe. She is also a RESOLVE Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, a member of the Prisons, Rehabilitation and Reintegration group of the EU Knowledge Hub and an Academic Advisor for WAVE Trauma Centre Belfast. Orla's current research focuses on victimisation and political violence in relation to the direct victims of violence, but also the broader psycho-social impact of victimisation and the perpetrator-victim complex. Orla's research interests lie in individual and group desistance from political violence, including issues related to deradicalisation, the role of grand narratives in justifying involvement in violence and psychosocial understandings of the transitions from violence to peace. Her most recent book with Sandra Peake the called ‘The Disappeared; The hidden Victims of Northern Ireland's Troubles.