Blueshirts

The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, known by the nickname the Blueshirts (Irish: Na Léinte Gorma), was a far-right paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded in 1932. The group provided physical protection for political groups such as Cumann na nGaedheal from intimidation and attacks by the IRA. Some former members went on to fight for the Francoist faction in the Spanish Civil War. Most of the political parties whose meetings the Blueshirts protected merged to become Fine Gael, and members of that party are still sometimes nicknamed "Blueshirts". There has been debate in Irish historiography over whether or not it was accurate to describe the Blueshirts' ideology as fascism sensu stricto due to their stated preference that the Irish state remain a democracy.