A fake ‘Irish Citizen Army’ has been promoted online on the anniversary of the foundation of the organisation, which famously took part in the 1916 Rising under the leadership of republican socialist martyr James Connolly.

Using artificially generated voices and images, the cartoonish videos, mostly promoted by far-right British nationalist accounts, feature masked figures in paramilitary gear vowing to ‘defend Ireland from migrants’.

Despite the evident absurdity, the claims have been lent credibility by prominent right-wing figures, including former US General Mike Flynn, a former National Security Advisor to US President Donald Trump.

Writing on X, he warned that “the ‘Troubles’ will feel like child’s play if this is as serious as it sounds.”

“Globalist world leaders caused much of these tensions,” he declared.

This comes after three men were arrested in a high-profile operation by the PSNI and Gardaí over what was labelled a “cross-border bomb plot” against a mosque in Galway linked to a far-right anti-migrant group.

A man from County Down was accused of conspiring with a Lithuanian immigrant from County Louth as part of an extremist right-wing group.

Devices were reportedly recovered in both Counties Down and Laois, along with an alleged “manifesto” for an extremist right-wing group.

A detective Garda told the court that a recording featuring four masked men threatening to take action against specific targets was also recovered.

A judge later said that in the video, which was played to a cleared court, the men spoke about attacking “Ireland’s first mosque” in Galway, and other targets.

The statement addressed “citizens in the north and south of Ireland”, and the judge said it was the “practice of a statement being released subsequent to a successful terrorist attack.”

Even more bizarrely, it also involved a County Laois man who had strong links to Sinn Féin, though his partner. The party quickly expelled the unidentified member for failing to report that their home had been raided by Gardaí.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she regretted that “this person was anywhere in proximity to any of us if it turns out that the concerns around this person turn out to be true.”

She added that for more than two years Sinn Féin has been subjected to “an orchestrated campaign online and in person, we’ve been threatened.”

In the North, members of a Nazi-style far-right group, ‘Clann Eireann’ (Irish Family), led by Justin Barrett, have recently been blamed for vandalising republican graves in Milltown Cemetery and engaging in other sinister activities, apparently designed to goad republicans and generate conflict.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin claimed the possibility of far-right groups coming together is “very serious” and commended Gardaí police “for getting underneath the bonnet of this.”

A statement from the leadership of the Anti-imperialist Action-linked Irish Socialist Republicans urged people “not to be misled” by British or 26 county agents “engaging in a carefully crafted psy-op attempting to usurp the legacy of Irish Socialist Republicanism”.

They warned of an intelligence plot designed to bring in new repressive legislation “under the guise of ‘combatting’ the far right”, legislation which could instead be used to further target those committed to Irish national liberation.