How the far right are misrepresenting Irish history

Analysis: the use of the term 'plantation' by far right groups in Ireland is a localised effort to peddle misinformation and racism

By Kirsty Park and James Kelly, DCU

In recent weeks, there have been a number of protests outside buildings designated as temporary housing for asylum seekers and refugees. As documented elsewhere, known far right activists in Ireland have participated in and publicised the protests. While some local residents who have chosen to protest possess genuine concerns, far-right actors have used these events to further their own agenda, following a recognised international pattern of media manipulation associated with the far-right.

Trading up the chain

Media manipulation describes a process whereby ideological groups such as the far right exploit the media ecosystem to influence the way news is presented, establish priorities, and disseminate their beliefs.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Eleanor Burnhill reports on protests in Dublin's East Wall over housing of asylum seekers

For a number of months, EDMO Ireland analysts at the Institute for Future Media and Journalism at DCU have been tracking the use of the term "plantation" with reference to asylum seekers and refugees in Ireland. Initially, the term was only used in niche far right groups on the messaging app Telegram. The recent protests have brought it into the mainstream as evidenced by its appearance in Twitter discussions, in speeches given at the East Wall protests, in the coverage of the events by alternative online news outlets and, most recently, mainstream news outlets.

This is a process known by disinformation researchers as "trading up the chain". It involves publicising a message or story on small-scale social media and sympathetic alternative media outlets until it gains enough traction to attract a response from mainstream media, social media platforms or other concerned parties.

This creates a difficult situation for journalists. They must decide if coverage of the situation will amplify the message or story, which will consequently increase its visibility and reach, or whether the existing level of reach warrants a reaction such as debunking or journalistic investigation to make the general public aware of the reality behind the situation.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin, what's driving protests outside asylum centres?

By tracking mentions of the term "plantation" across Telegram groups, social media and news media we can see that the protests have been used by far right groups to trade up the chain and gain exposure for their conspiracy theory around migration.

Historical context of Irish Plantations

To understand the appeal of the term, it is necessary to put it in its proper historical context. Plantation was a means employed by the English Crown in 16th and 17th-century Ireland to both extend and consolidate its authority on the island. Initiated, largely unsuccessfully, in the 1550s in Laois and Offaly to counter indigenous opposition to the increased New English presence in the region, it was subsequently pursued on a larger canvas in Munster in the 1580s, but this too was brought to an unsuccessful termination. Since both of these schemes prioritised land ownership, they did not involve the inwards movement of large numbers of settlers.

The Plantation of Ulster, which followed in the early 17th century, placed a significantly greater premium in the introduction of settlers, who were incentivised to migrate from lowland Scotland and parts of northern England, and to occupy the six counties (Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Fermanagh) that were deemed forfeit to the Crown. Parallel with this, there was significant migration (from Scotland primarily) to counties Antrim and Down (neither country was formally planted).

From RTÉ Archives, 1969 report by David Timlin for Irish Landscape on how plantation towns like Derry, New Ross, Portlaoise, Bandon, and Belfast have shaped the landscape of Ireland.

This inevitably led to social tension, climaxing in the 1640s with rebellion in 1641 and a demographically costly war, which was brought to a bloody conclusion by Oliver Cromwell. Afterwards, a still larger series of land confiscations paved the way for introduction of additional landowners and the creation of a landed aristocracy, that were the progenitors of those who tellingly chose to identify themselves as the Protestant ascendancy in the 18th century.

A small Catholic elite survived this state orchestrated attempt to Anglicise Ireland, but the majority of the population – Catholic and Protestant – filled in subordinate social, economic and political roles in the hierarchal new order that was brought into being as part of the policy of conquest pursued by the English crown and its new English agents in Ireland. Thus the policy of plantation as pursued in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries was a central feature of a strategy whose purpose was to anglicise, Protestantise and to affirm England's historic control of the island of Ireland.

From RTÉ Brainstorm, what's behind the emergence of the far right in Irish politics?

The invocation of the term "plantation" in relation to Ireland's current immigration policy to imply that the government is attempting deliberately to override Irish identity, culture and people is anachronistic and historically misinformed. One cannot draw a historically legitimate or sustainable correlation between the state-sponsored colonising plantations of the early modern era and the current Government’s efforts to provide for refugees seeking relief from danger. Irish people should not feel threatened by immigration. We can already see some evidence of this in false claims associated with the recent protests that have been documented by TheJournal.ie.

Replacement theory

The term 'plantation’ is used by the far right in Ireland to promote a localised concept of the Great Replacement Theory that they hope will resonate with Irish people. This is demonstrated by the fact that the first references EDMO Ireland found to the concept in an Irish context described it as "The Great Plantation".

Its manifestly right-wing political purpose is attested to by the fact that the Great Replacement Theory has its origins in white nationalism and claims that white identity and ethnicity is under threat because white Europeans are being replaced by non-white, non-Europeans, and that this is being undertaken with the cooperation of elites.

The Government must take the concerns of citizens seriously or there is a very real risk that these will be exploited by those peddling misinformation and racism

In our analysis of images and videos posted by and in groups in Ireland that use the term "plantation", we have encountered claims that non-white Ukrainian refugees cannot be Ukrainian, non-white immigrants are dangerous and only white people can truly be Irish. These are the underlying ideas that those who call out far right participation in the protests object to, and it is likely many local residents would object to them too.

How do we respond?

Latching on to existing concerns among local residents has allowed far right actors to dismiss criticism. They falsely claim that those who identify far right manipulation are smearing all those involved in the protests. Government policies can and should be criticised by citizens, but this is not the same as accusing the government of systematically working to erode Irish identity, culture, and people.

As well as plantation, the Irish story involves mass emigration during a time of crisis. Ireland has not been characterised by the same type of right-wing anti-immigrant rhetoric in politics that we see in many other European countries. However, the Government must take the concerns of citizens seriously or there is a very real risk that these concerns will be exploited by those peddling misinformation and racism in order to promote their own inherently anti-democratic right-wing narrative.

Dr Kirsty Park is a postdoctoral researcher in Disinformation in the EDMO Ireland Hub at the Institute for Future Media Journalism and Society (FuJo) at DCU. She is an Irish Research Council awardee. Prof James Kelly is Professor of Irish History at DCU.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

Trading up the chain

Historical context of Irish Plantations

Replacement theory

How do we respond?

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