Ireland: Antifa collaborators in student governments and youth movements exposed
Conservative student journalists in Ireland are publishing the results of a long-term undercover operation they conducted, which has revealed that there are many Antifa collaborators who currently hold positions in student governments and youth movements across the country.
The journalists, who write for The Burkean, refer to their work as the “Irish Antifa Project,” and describe it as “an undercover investigation into the tacit and sometimes overt support for antifascist harassment among elements of the Irish media and political class.” They are publishing their findings in a series of articles on The Burkean website.
The Irish Antifa Project created a Twitter account for a fake group called “Irish Students Against Fascism” and spent months holding and recording conversations with prominent officials in various student and youth groups to get them to admit to their sympathies and cooperation with Antifa. Posing as Antifa themselves, they typically offered to carry out illegal acts against people on the Right on their target’s behalf while protecting his or her anonymity.
Most notable among those who have been exposed so far has been Michelle Byrne, who was Deputy President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), a nationwide organization which represents all of the country’s nearly 400,000 students. The Burkean journalists recorded Byrne agreeing to turn over the names of known conservative students. The journalists had told Byrne that they would use the names to “slap them around.” They also told her that they could carry out illegal actions against Right-wingers on her behalf to keep her name clean, to which she replied, “Yeah, absolutely.”
Byrne also made it clear that she was willing to do anything she could to help the fictitious group, so long as her connection was kept secret. After The Burkean’s findings were published, she resigned from her position.
Similarly, Lorna Fitzpatrick, USI’s President, told the group that she would lobby the USI to support their activities, and expressed support for the group’s proposed tactic of using the names of known Right-wingers in order to get them dismissed from their jobs, even offering to pass names to them.
Many others were netted in The Burkean’s sting operation as well, including Robert Murtagh, President of the Union of Students in Northern Ireland; Roisin Nic Lochlainn, Vice President of the NUI Galway student union; Laura Beston, President of the Trinity College Dublin student union; Sé Ó hEidhin, Trinity College student union’s Ethnic Minority Officer; Tate Donnelly, a candidate for the Green Party; Sean-Diarmuid Kelliher of the progressive youth movement Ógra Fianna Fáil; and Jacob Woolf, the acting head of Trinity College’s Jewish Society. All expressed support for the group’s intentions and in some cases promised or actually provided aid on a personal level to assist with the harassment of conservatives.
Woolf, in fact, turned over the names, photographs, and employment details of several of The Burkean’s writers. He made it clear that he wanted to target “classical liberals,” claiming that the term is merely a front for people who are in fact fascists.
The Burkean is still in the process of publishing its findings, so more revelations can be expected in the coming days. Full details of the intelligence they gathered is available on their website.
Antifa violence has become a serious problem in Western Europe and the United States in recent years, especially in Germany as previously reported by Voice of Europe.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/03/ireland-antifa-collaborators-in-student-governments-and-youth-movements-exposed/