Mark Sinclair, a self-confessed former member of the UVF loyalist terrorist organisation, has addressed an anti-immigration and antigovernment rally outside the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.
The protesters marched to Leinster House, blocking the Kildare Street entrance and necessitating the deployment of additional Garda personnel.
Sinclair’s presence follows a pattern of increasing co-operation between far-right groups in the Republic and loyalist groups in the North also vehemently opposed to immigration.
“I’m not here as a loyalist or a protestant,” Sinclair told the crowd outside the GPO to cheers and applause. “I’m here as a citizen journalist and a father of a seven-month-old daughter. I’m just here to support you guys.”
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He said the “problem of open borders” was significant in the North, saying “we have to contain what’s going on”, including that people are so easily crossing the Border between the Republic and the North.
From the loyalist Shankill area of west Belfast, Sinclair has previously claimed he was paid to spy on behalf of the British security services. He is also a cousin of Billy Moore, who was a member of the Shankill Butchers, a UVF gang.
Tuesday’s Dublin protest, held under the banner “Dissolve the Dáil”, was organised by Kerry-based businesswoman Michelle Keane, who was an unsuccessful candidate in the last general election and has made claims of election fraud.
She described Tuesday’s event as “a day of unity between nationalists and loyalists” and told those gathered at the GPO that the Border between the Republic and the North “must be closed”.
The purpose of Tuesday’s protest in Dublin was to “dissolve the Dáil immediately and restore power to the people”. The protesters intended on gaining entry to the Dáil to address it before it would be dissolved.
After marching from the GPO, about 150 people gathered outside Leinster House from 2pm for about two hours before dispersing.
Some of those present shouted “traitors” and “collaborators” to staff and visitors entering and leaving the complex. They also shouted anti-immigration phrases.
Event organiser Ms Keane, who often wears “Make Ireland Great Again” clothing, visited Bangor, Co Down, two weeks ago to meet Sinclair at a bonfire being erected for July 12th.
Sinclair also attended a large anti-immigration rally in Dublin city centre in April, which was organised by Dublin-based Cllr Malachy Steenson. It was heavily promoted by former mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and was addressed by Cllr Steenson and Cllr Gavin Pepper.
Sinclair was present at an anti-immigration event in Limerick last month.
However, Cllr Pepper said he objected to Sinclair’s presence at the protest in Dublin on Tuesday.
“Following the platforming of loyalist death squad informer and Shankill Butcher affiliate Mark Sinclair and the acrid fallout from same, I’ll not be participating in future city centre rallies,” Mr Pepper said on social media platform X. “I’ll continue all other works, like local protests and local rallies outside of city centres.”
In a report published this week by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a counter-extremism organisation, the emerging trend of co-operation between far-right agitators in the Republic and loyalist groups in Northern Ireland was described as a “significant shift in the political landscape”.
The cross-Border far right collaboration has included members of the “Coolock Says No” far-right group from Dublin being present on the streets of Belfast with loyalist terrorists during serious anti-immigration disturbances last August.
A discussion on YouTube between far-right activist and Donegal election candidate Niall McConnell and loyalist ex-prisoner Sinclair at the height of anti-immigration violence in Ballymena, Co Antrim, is also highlighted in the study.
Sinclair was convicted of a series of bank robberies in Scotland and jailed for 18 years in 2003.
He told the court he was a former member of the UVF and claimed he had been sent to Scotland by members of the security services to spy on members of the UDA, a loyalist terror group.
Sinclair alleged he had been paid £3,000 each time he met his secret service handlers and passed on information, earning around £50,000 over several years.
He claimed he supplied intelligence about UDA-linked people in the village of Drongan, East Ayrshire, and that he spied on a flute band in nearby Ayr.
