Burn Them Out! cover art

Burn Them Out!

A History of Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Burn Them Out! by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, read by Enda Oates.

In November 2023, the Dublin riots shocked Ireland and the wider world. They were sparked by a knife attack by an immigrant on three children. Inflammatory online rumours spread in minutes. Part of the north inner city were wrecked, cars and buses torched, and protestors wreaked havoc on the streets for hours.

Until very recently, Ireland had prided itself on having escaped the wave of far-right, xenophobic populism now rampant throughout Europe. That complacency has been rudely challenged.

In Burn Them Out!, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc explores the long history that has led to this pivotal moment. He uncovers the pervasive anti-Semitism of the Irish political elite in the 1920s and 30s, the energetic efforts of Mosley and other British fascists to extend their movement to the North of Ireland, the IRA’s alliance with Nazi Germany in the 40s and the many ultra-Catholic, anti-communist Irish movements that were millimetres away from fascism. He tells the story of exotic entities like the Fascio di Dublino, the Dublin branch of Mussolini's Fascist Party, and the Irish wing of Miss Rotha Lintorn-Orman's ‘British Fascisti’.

The openly-fascist Irish movement known as the Blueshirts, an offshoot and ally of the early Fine Gael, is looked at with fresh eyes, and its supporters’ statements about Jews now make for hair-raising reading. Many of its proponents went on to become pillars of the Irish political and cultural establishment. And the Catholic and nationalist Ailtirí na hAiséirghe (Architects of the Resurrection), a post-war sect, was in many ways a precursor of today’s Irish far right.

This is an essential book about an aspect of Irish history all too often swept under the carpet.©2025 Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Europe Politics & Government War
All stars
Most relevant
This is VERY hard and necessary listening for almost any UK 🇬🇧 citizen. Ambivalent attitudes towards Churchill become much more understandable. We all need to hear this. A lot of things about our recent National history become much more understandable. Those of us who remember a twinkly old lady called Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, will blench. Maybe remember her brother was the last Duke of Saxe Coburg & Gotha and fervent Nazi, SS Officer etc. For me with Great Aunts who thought, in common with many others in the UK, that Hitler had the right idea. Something they had the grace to shut up about once the concentration camps had been so thoroughly exposed even the UK Foreign Office couldn't pretend they didn't exist. Altogether a salutory and I would say essential piece of listening and/or reading.

Necessary Listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wish I had access the devices for books like this back in 2005, would have been a great supplemental book for my 2005 leaving cert Irish history section.

History glanced over in school texts, out loud in this publication.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.