The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but best known by the nickname the Blueshirts, was a paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded as the Army Comrades Association in Dublin on 9 February 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 Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War after the group had been dissolved.
O'Duffy with Blueshirts. (Women members were termed"Blue Blouses.")
Eoin O'Duffy speaking at a rally in 1934
Ned Cronin had been with the Blueshirts from the start, before O'Duffy joined. Following O'Duffy's failed attempt to control Fine Gael, the Blueshirts split into pro-O'Duffy and pro-Cronin factions. Cronin's faction remained in Fine Gael while O'Duffy's departed
All dressed in Blueshirt attire, Ned Cronin (left) and Eoin O'Duffy (centre) flank Ernest Blythe on the right, in this photograph from c. early 1934.
Cumann na nGaedheal was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. It was named after the original Cumann na nGaedheal organisation which merged with the Dungannon Clubs and the National Council to form Sinn Féin in 1905. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party.
Photograph of Cumann na nGaedheal Government, 1922/1923
During the 1932 election Cumann na nGaedheal propaganda linked Fianna Fáil to the IRA, and the IRA to Communism.
