The recent rioting in Dublin has raised concerns about the extent of anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland, and questions about the scale of influence held by a small number of people with fringe right-wing views.
In the wake of the rioting, questions were also asked about whether An Garda Síochána should have had more intelligence to predict the unrest.
Ireland does not have as significant a problem with the far-right as other countries, but many analysts say it is increasingly concerning.
Patrik Hermansson is one person who understands the danger posed by fringe right-wing ideologues, and the difficulty involved in gathering intelligence on them.
He is a Swedish anti-racism campaigner who spent a year infiltrating the white nationalist movement mainly in the UK under an assumed identity. He was working with the advocacy group, Hope not Hate.
He told Katie Hannon on 'Upfront: The Podcast' what he went through during his time undercover.
"While most meetings are religious talk, those could sometimes spiral into very explicit endorsement of violence and hate. I sat in a meeting where they applauded the killing of 48 people in Pulse nightclub [Gay Dance Club] in Florida back in 2016. As a gay man, that was quite a scary moment. And there were other sort of near misses and times where they spoke about what they would do to anti-fascists and journalists."
Mr Hermansson also spent time undercover in the US, where members identified themselves as national socialists and Nazis.
"I went to meetings and social things like barbecues on the west coast of the US. They imagined a war between white people and black people in the US and they were sort of training for it. While I was with them, they all had weapons on them. They talked about what they would do to anti-fascists and black people and Jews and migrants."
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In attempting to infiltrate extreme groups, Mr Hermansson's back-story was that he was an exchange student in London. He said he wanted to appear academic, because he knew they were interested in having people that were academically minded.
"In order to get inside a group you have to create an identity to separate your real self from this new person. You have to have a backstory that makes sense of why you came to these views, which you actually don't hold. I come from Sweden, and Sweden at this point in time had been made kind of an example of a country with high migration that led to lots of issues. So, I put myself up as being quite upset with this migration and now I was here studying in London, and I wanted to do something about it."
He told Katie Hannon social media played a crucial role in gaining initial access to these groups and building trust.
"I commented on their YouTube channels and their Facebook and just, you know, thumbs up and said I was interested in things to sort of bolster up the identity a little bit. So that got a bit of recognition essentially. And then eventually I sent an email and I asked, can I come?"
Among the groups Mr Hermansson infiltrated was the London Forum, which was very secretive and well attended internationally.
"They tried to intellectualise racism, use statistics and data to show that there were differences between white and black people, essentially. So, people from Europe and the US came and spoke at these conferences. Nothing was filmed. Member lists were very tightly controlled. There were background checks on everyone who attended. The locations were secret and it's essentially a sort of a hub."
Mr Hermansson believes the election of Donald Trump to the White House and the Brexit referendum strengthened the rise of the far right.
"Brexit definitely helped. And there was this idea of a wave of far-right parties in Europe that could have won as well with Front National in France and stuff. And that didn't really go as they had hoped. But there was this sense that there was Trump, there was Brexit, something's changing in our society in their direction. As individuals, they're just people. Often, they have quite sad backstories, and you can have some empathy for them. I never liked them. It's very hard when they cannot go five minutes without expressing their extreme ideas."
Mr Hermansson points to Ireland never having a fascist party in government and cautions against complacency.
"It's very important not to be complacent and believe that we are somehow different. In Ireland or the UK, we have never had a fascist party in government and therefore we are somehow immune towards it. That's a very dangerous way of thinking. So, we always have to be vigilant and that's why organisations like Hope not Hate keep trying to raise awareness of these issues."
Listen to Patrik Hermansson speaking to Katie Hannon on Upfront: The Podcast here, on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.
